Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that India needs to decarbonize its transportation sector quickly because the country has the potential to be a global leader in biofuels. He said, virtually speaking at the Sugar and Ethanol Conference organised by Chini Mandi, that 80 percent of the energy requirement of the Indian transport sector was met through imports of fossil fuels such as petrol, diesel, and so on, which cost the country more than Rs 1600 trillion per year. This is an economic and environment problem. The transport sector also accounts for 90 per cent carbon emissions. There is immediate need to decarbonise the transport sector. The Union government is pursuing biofuels and compressed bio gas on mission mode to replace these imports in a cost effective, pollution free way, he said. The government is encouraging policy frameworks for production of bio fuels and creation of a sustainable ecosystem around it. The Centre is giving a huge push to ethanol as fuel, especially its production from surplus and damaged food grains like rice, corn and sugarcane. We can be a torch bearer in bio fuels globally, he said. The efficient use of surplus sugar, rice and maize stock as well as production of second generation ethanol from bamboo and agri bio mass such as cotton and straw can completely change the fuel landscape in India, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said. India is the only country that is setting up four commercial plants for bio fuels, three of which are based on indigenous technology. Each plant will help two lakh farmers and reduce three lakh tonnes of carbon emissions. There is need for research and development in green hydrogen and diversification of the agriculture sector into energy and power, he asserted. Gadkari claimed that the ethanol industry has a promising future and urged the sugar industry to turn its excess produce into bioethanol, which will help boost the nation's rural and agricultural economies. See also: Govt to introduce ethanol in agriculture, construction equipment Govt mandates use of concrete elements to push green roads