5 Reasons Clean Fuel Standards Are the Secret Key to Decarbonizing Transportation
by Jeremy Martin (Union of Concerned Scientists) Clean Fuel Standards like the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) have been around for more than a decade but have not attracted the attention of more narrowly targeted policies promoting electric vehicles, biofuels, or renewable power. Recently, however, Clean Fuel Standards are enjoying something of a resurgence, with states from coast to coast (including Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and New York) considering joining California and Oregon in adopting this proven model to support transportation decarbonization. Washington, DC is also taking notice. They see Clean Fuel Standards as an opportunity to get federal fuels policy back on track. Replacing the biofuels-focused Renewable Fuel Standard with a more flexible, more comprehensive science-based performance standard would accelerate transportation electrification while supporting continued improvement in biofuels and innovation across today’s and tomorrow’s transportation fuel technologies.
I’ve been studying Clean Fuel Standards for more than a decade and have published extensively on the topic. My recent factsheet provides a high-level overview of this proven approach to transportation decarbonization. Here are the top five things you should know about Clean Fuel Standards:
- Clean Fuel Standards support electric vehicles. …
- Clean Fuel Standards reward biofuels producers for producing cleaner biofuels. …
- Clean Fuel Standards bring farmers into the clean fuels game. …
- Clean Fuel Standards provide reliable, long-term support for transportation decarbonization without taxpayer funding. …
- Clean Fuel Standards hold oil companies accountable.
…
… Clean Fuel Standards are not the one policy to rule them all so much as an important complement to policies for vehicle manufacturers, fuel and electricity producers and farmers that ensures that all these industries are pulling in the same direction to decarbonize transportation across all vehicle and fuel types.
