Focus: Facts for prelims
Why in News?
The Union Minister of State for Science and Technology recently announced the full launch of “Mission Integrated Bio-refineries,” a big futuristic PPP (Public Private Participation) mode initiative for “Clean Energy.”
- The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has also developed Material Acceleration Platforms (MAP), which will use developing capabilities in next-generation computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and robotics to speed up the pace of materials discovery by up to ten times.
About Mission Integrated Bio-refineries
Goal:
Develop and demonstrate innovative solutions to accelerate the commercialization of integrated biorefineries, with a target of replacing 10% of fossil-based fuels, chemicals and materials with bio-based alternatives by 2030
Mission:
- The Mission will advance sustainable biorefining pathways and technologies to support the development and commercialization of bio-based fuels, chemicals and materials, by also considering process energy demands.
- This will support de-risking new and emerging technology, while improving the cost-competitiveness of bio-based alternatives, notably biofuels.
Members will,
- promote research, development, and innovation across the biorefining supply and value chain,
- advance pilot-scale demonstration projects for sustainable biorefining technologies, and
- collaborate with industry and standards-setting organizations to support regulatory development for these new products.
Challenge:
- Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport and chemicals sectors already account for nearly one-third of global emissions with transport responsible for already one-fourth of them, and are projected to increase by 2050, in particular from transport.
- Therefore, there is a need for low-carbon and renewable alternatives to fossil-based fuels, chemicals, and materials, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as, long-haul transportation, and industry.
Mission Innovation:
- Mission Innovation is a worldwide programme that aims to catalyse action and investment in research, development, and demonstration in order to make clean energy affordable, appealing, and accessible to all by the end of this decade.
- In 2015, it was launched along with the Paris Agreement.
- It is the primary intergovernmental forum tackling sustainable energy innovation via collaborative action.
- Its members account for more than 90 percent of worldwide public expenditures in clean energy innovation, and their yearly investments have climbed by USD 5.8 billion since 2015.
- Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission are among the 23 members of Mission Innovation (on behalf of the European Union).
