Dubai Expo: Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said on Wednesday that India is on the right track in its transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a green one.

Interacting with the media at the India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the minister said: "What is happening in India (right now) is genuinely remarkable. The transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a green economy will occur inside the existing structure in the next decades, with oil firms assisting." This comes just days after India pledged to cut emissions to net zero by 2070, reduce carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, and increase the share of renewables in the energy mix to 50 percent, among other things, at the COP26 climate summit, before backing down on a commitment to "phase out" coal at the last minute.

Nonetheless, the minister said that India is moving forward with its biofuel and green energy ambitions, claiming that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, "just 1 percent or less of ethanol blending was taking place."

"Today, we are already at 8.5 percent, and I am confident that the 2030 target for 20 percent ethanol blending, which we have now pushed back to 2025, will result in 20 percent blended fuel being available at the pumps, I believe from January 2023," Puri said on the sidelines of the India Pavilion's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas section.

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