Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week is kicking off and this week the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) called on attendees to make increasing global biofuels use a top priority. During the week, global leaders will address the energy and sustainability challenges of the future. In addition, the World Future Energy Summit is also taking place.

“Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and it’s complement of events is the ideal setting for attendees to endorse expanding biofuels strategies because they create much needed rural jobs, significantly curb green house gas emissions and reduce our reliance on crude oil,” said Bliss Baker, spokesperson for the GRFA.

Baker continued, “Attendees of the IRENA Renewable Energy Jobs Conference must endorse expanding the global biofuels industry because it is a bright spot in the world economy, contributing billions of dollars to output and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs now and in the future.”

According to the GRFA, global biofuels production today is making a significant contribution to the global economy, having contributed $277.3 billion and supported nearly 1.4 million jobs in all sectors of the global economy in 2010. By 2020 the global biofuel industry is forecasted to grow to support over 2.2 million jobs in all sectors of the global economy.

“Attendees of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week and the IRENA Meeting also need to recognize that biofuels are the only real feasible option available to reduce emissions in the transportation sector immediately,” said Baker.

In 2013, the International Energy Agency’s Tracking Clean Energy Progress report stated that biofuels will have to play an increased role in order to reduce Green House Gases (GHG) as part of their Climate Change Scenario by 2020. According to the GRFA, in 2013, an estimated 85 billion litres of ethanol were produced which is estimated to have reduced GHG emissions by over 100 million tonnes, the equivalent of removing 20 million cars off the road.

“How can we not expand the global biofuels industry? Last year’s global ethanol production alone reduced GHG emissions equal to removing all the cars registered in Portugal and the Netherlands from the road,” added Baker.

He concluded, “It’s clear, that with all the positive economic and environmental benefits of biofuels, attendees of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week’s events must commit to globally increasing biofuels use so they have a greater share of the future global energy mix,” concluded Baker.