{"id":51503,"date":"2025-08-18T19:38:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=51503"},"modified":"2025-08-18T20:25:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:55:06","slug":"impact-of-ethanol-blending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-08-2025\/impact-of-ethanol-blending","title":{"rendered":"Impact of Ethanol Blending"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India achieved 20% ethanol blending in petrol (E20) in 2025, five years earlier than the 2030 target set under the National Policy on Biofuels (2018).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The government highlights significant benefits including reduced oil imports, enhanced farmer incomes, and lower carbon dioxide emissions. However, concerns remain over consumer dissatisfaction regarding mileage drop, agricultural sustainability issues etc.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About EBP<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Launched:<\/strong> Pilot in 2003; expanded under the National Policy on Biofuels (2018).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Target: <\/strong>Achieve 20% ethanol blending (E20) by 2030, achieved in 2025.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ministry: <\/strong>Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Objectives:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reduce India\u2019s heavy reliance (~85%) on crude oil imports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provide assured markets and improve farmer incomes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lower greenhouse gas emissions by substituting fossil fuels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Feedstock:<\/strong> Sugarcane (molasses and juice), rice, maize\/corn, damaged food grains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Consumer Issues:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Drop in Mileage:<\/strong> LocalCircles survey found 67% of petrol vehicle owners opposed E20, citing lower fuel efficiency and increased maintenance costs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limited Price Benefit:<\/strong> Despite a 65% fall in global crude oil prices since 2022-23, petrol prices have been cut by only about 2%, raising doubts about cost savings passed to consumers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Agricultural Sustainability:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Water-Intensive Crop: <\/strong>Sugarcane consumes 60\u201370 tonnes of water per tonne, contributing to groundwater depletion, particularly in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Land Degradation:<\/strong> Nearly 30% of India\u2019s land area is degraded, partly due to unsustainable agricultural practices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Food vs Fuel Dilemma<\/strong>: Diverting rice and corn for ethanol (34% of corn output used for ethanol in 2024\u201325, along with record rice allocation) has led to increased corn imports, affecting food security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Diversify Feedstock:<\/strong> Shift away from sugarcane to alternative sources such as maize, bamboo, and agricultural residues to reduce environmental impact.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Consumer Protection: <\/strong>Implement tax incentives or compensation as recommended by NITI Aayog to address concerns over fuel efficiency drop.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Balanced Energy Strategy:<\/strong> Use ethanol as a transitional or bridge fuel while aggressively scaling up EV adoption backed by renewable energy-supported charging infrastructure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India achieved 20% ethanol blending in petrol (E20) in 2025, five years earlier than the 2030 target set under the National Policy on Biofuels (2018).<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Diversify Feedstock: Shift away from sugarcane to alternative sources such as maize, bamboo, and agricultural residues to reduce environmental impact.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Consumer Protection: Implement tax incentives or compensation as recommended by NITI Aayog to address concerns over fuel efficiency drop.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Balanced Energy Strategy: Use ethanol as a transitional or bridge fuel while aggressively scaling up EV adoption backed by renewable energy-supported charging infrastructure.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-08-2025\/impact-of-ethanol-blending\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":51547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/impact-of-ethanol-blending.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51526,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51503\/revisions\/51526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}