Policy assessment & strategy development for biofuels
Student name: Mr Deepak Sharma
Guide: Dr Sanpa Narula
Year of completion: 2011
Host Organisation: Research Centre for Environmental Policy (FFU) of Freie University, Berlin
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Kirsten Jörgensen
Abstract: Indian biofuel sector has advanced over the decade and the adoption of 1ational Biofuel Policy in December
2009 has important implications for the country which is looking to increase its energy security and also attain
energy independence. The project “Policy Assessment and Strategy Development for Biofuels†assessed biofuel
policies in Germany and developed strategy for biofuels in India. The broad objective of the project was to
derive lessons from biofuel policies in Germany taking the view of different stakeholder groups and their role in
policy formulation and then undertake a comprehensive analysis of large scale production and use of biofuels
in India and develop strategies based on the findings. The analysis undertaken in this report was mainly based
on secondary data supplemented by unstructured interviews. The methodology applied for policy assessment is
advocacy coalition framework which seeks to identify various actors having a stake in German biofuels policy
and the emergence of actor networks and advocacy coalitions. These actor groups are analysed with a view to
determine the coalitions and the interaction of private and public stakeholders in biofuels. The results shed
some light on the challenges and conflicts that a country faces while transforming a current energy system into
a low carbon one and the role of various private and public stakeholders in this game. For strategy
development assessment of natural resource to support blending targets without compromising food production,
assessment of supply chain to identify constraints, financial feasibility of biofuels, cross sectoral impacts of
biofuel production and economic feasibility. The major findings of the project are separation of policies for
ethanol and biodiesel, ethanol production through molasses only, biodiesel production economically and
socially attractive and research required on 2nd generation biofuels. The project is of immense significance with
regard to India attaining the blending target of 20% of biofuels till 2017.
