The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has adopted interim guidance on the use of biofuels and biofuel blends, a resolution vehemently pushed by India at a maritime environment protection conference here.
The London-based IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations which is responsible for measures to improve the safety and security of international shipping and to prevent pollution from ships.
The interim guidance adopted on Thursday at the 80th Session of the Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO stressed that biofuels that have been certified by an international certification scheme, meeting its sustainability criteria and provide a well-to-wake GHG emissions reduction of at least 65 per cent compared to the fossil fuels can be used in the shipping industry.
With this guidance coming into effect, India has great potential to be developed as a biofuel hub of the world.
“We, with our highly sustainable second-generation biofuel, are the leaders in the race now. Brazil and China are the other players, but our biofuel has proved to be of higher quality,” Ajithkumar Sukumaran, Additional DG of Shipping and an Indian delegate at the MEPC told PTI.
Other member states backed up India on the resolution, overlooking the objections raised by the US.