Denmark launches Green Fuels Alliance India

Denmark has announced its Green Fuels Alliance India (GFAI) initiative in a bid to boost collaborative efforts between the two countries in the sustainable energy solutions sector and advance their joint global goal towards carbon neutrality.

Led by the Danish Embassy and the Consulate General of Denmark in India, the new alliance is a strategic initiative poised to play a pivotal role in advancing the green fuels sector, including green hydrogen, by fostering innovation, collaboration, and partnerships between Danish industries and their counterparts in India.

As explained, GFAI’s primary objective is to promote sustainable energy growth in India by establishing an ecosystem that encourages collaboration among businesses, government entities, research institutions, and financial stakeholders from both the Indian and Danish sectors.

Nine pioneering Danish organizations have already committed to the GFAI initiative as founding members including Maersk, Topsoe, Umwelt Energy, Mash Makes, European Sustainable Solutions, Novozymes, Danfoss, Brdr. Christensen and Hydrogen Denmark.

Meanwhile, the GFAI advisory board members include India Hydrogen Alliance, Energy Consortium at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, the Danish Energy Agency and State of Green.

The GFAI announcement comes at an opportune moment in history as India massively pushes towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2070. Meanwhile, Denmark has topped the global Climate Performance Ranking 2024 and is also on the path to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The GFAI is demonstrative of activities under the Green Strategic Partnership (GSP) signed in 2020 between India and Denmark that seek to meet the partner countries’ ambitious climate targets.

“Our planet needs action. The Tamil Nadu investors summit is happening at this very important junction. Danish companies bring skills to the green transition globally. Happy to see the special efforts through the Green Strategic Partnership to inspire India in her endeavours of greening its development. The Green Fuels Alliance India is powering initiatives within the energy transition. May our joint contributions be significant and inspirational,” Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark to India, commented.

Key features of the GFAI include featuring a Steering Committee comprised of Danish businesses and coordinated by the Secretariat at the Danish Consulate in Bangalore; Advisory Board comprising industry experts and thought leaders that will ensure the initiatives remain innovative and aligned with industry trends. What is more, the GFAI will be inspired by collaborative initiatives such as the India-Denmark Energy Partnership, the Nation Green Hydrogen Mission, and joint R&D efforts on Green Fuels, including Green Hydrogen.

“Hydrogen Denmark is thrilled to be in the steering committee and part of the Green Fuels Alliance India. The alliance represents a powerful collaboration between nations, bridging expertise and resources to accelerate the adoption of the green energy solutions that is going to power the societies of tomorrow. It is an essential topic, and not least one, where India and Denmark have a lot to gain from each other and as two global frontrunners not least has a lot to contribute to the global decarbonisation efforts,” Tejs Laustsen Jensen, CEO of Hydrogen Denmark, a cluster organisation for green fuels in Denmark on the advisory board of GFAI, said.

“We look forward to working with the Danish Government and Industry to support offtake and trade in Hydrogen, Hydrogen Derivates and e-fuels. Maritime transport decarbonisation is a key use-case for green hydrogen and we look forward to supporting this initiative that hopes to accelerate large offtake volumes of hydrogen derivatives and e-fuels from and in India. Long term offtake agreements are important to create the hydrogen economy in India,” Jillian Evanko, President and CEO, Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) and Founding Member, India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A), noted.

As green fuels gain prominence in India, GFAI will actively facilitate knowledge sharing, business opportunities, and strategic and financing partnerships between Indian and Danish actors in the field of green fuels, including green hydrogen.

A.P. Moller–Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, will take a seat on the steering committee as one of the representatives of the maritime industry for the conversations around green fuels.

“The availability of green energy and green fuel in sufficient quantities at cost-competitive price levels is the single largest challenge to the global shipping’s net-zero journey. India has excellent conditions for renewable energy production and ambitions to be a global leader in the green energy value chain. Drawing on our more than 100 years of business relations with the nation, we are very excited to join the involved Indian and Danish stakeholders as a founding member of the Green Fuels Alliance India (GFAI),” Morten Bo Christiansen, Head of Energy Transition, A.P. Moller – Maersk, said.

Maersk has set a Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions target for 2040 across the entire business and has also set tangible and ambitious near-term targets for 2030 to ensure significant progress.

Every year, 100,000 vessels powered by 300 million tonnes of fossil fuel move 11 billion tonnes of goods around the world. This makes shipping accountable for around 1,076 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually – around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Maersk is committed to playing its part in getting shipping to NetZero by switching to green fuel powering its vessels and remains committed to only ordering newbuild vessels that can sail on green fuels.

Maersk introduced the world’s first dual-fuel vessel that can run on green methanol in 2023, and the world’s largest vessel to run on green fuel, a 16,000-TEU vessel, will be added to service in February 2024.

Maersk has secured sufficient green methanol to cover this vessel’s maiden voyage and continues to work on 2024-25 sourcing solutions for its methanol-enabled vessel fleet. In addition to these two vessels, there are 23 more that have been ordered and will be added to the fleet as and when they are built.

Coinciding with the launch of the GFAI initiative, Maersk and India’s Government of Tamil Nadu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024.

Specifically, Maersk will explore strategic investment opportunities in land development for logistics hubs, warehousing facilities, and deployment of electric trucks for distribution network in a bid to enable the Indian state’s growing trade.