Advanced Biofuels Association Releases Principles for Low Carbon Fuel Policy

(Advanced Biofuels Association) On December 2, the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) released a set of principles to inform low carbon fuels policy, approved by the Association’s diverse membership.

This document is the culmination of a year-long effort to find consensus amongst ABFA’s members on concepts policymakers may consider as the U.S. moves toward a lower-carbon economy and works to reduce carbon emissions from the liquid transportation fuel sector to mitigate the effects of climate change. As the cover letter to this document notes, this set of principles is particularly notable as it is endorsed by some of the largest petroleum refining companies in the world, as well as some of the largest advanced biofuels producers in the United States and abroad.

Michael McAdams, President of the Advanced Biofuels Association, said of the document, “These principles position our Association to engage at any level with any group working on the global issue of climate change. It gives us a sound, realistic, and focused set of principles and guardrails to pursue a constructive conversation on what policies might be adopted to reach the U.S.’s carbon reduction goals.”

Excerpts from cover letter and ABFA Principles: To be successful, private industry and governments around the world must foster partnership. Additionally, buy-in from every sector requires having a common approach to carbon accounting – one based in science and governed by certified and consistently-updated data and models. Low-carbon fuel
policy will not work if the world cannot align on metrics, methodologies, and standards for assessing carbon reduction. ABFA’s members support policy that is inclusive, data driven, broad, efficient, transparent, fair, timely and current.

While our scope focused on the transportation fuels sector, these principles can be generally applicable across many sectors.

Guideposts: Data driven, politically feasible, legally sound, market neutral, solving for efficiency, cost, and transition toward carbon reduction.

Balanced: Policies must drive innovation and investments in all fuel sectors and provide a long term market signal within the bounds of feasibility

Dynamic: Best and most recent information must be closely monitored and updated to reflect ever changing realities

Phased: Targets should be set for long term predictability to drive progress from well established baselines

Flexible: Allow for broadest array of means possible to meet obligations inclusive of credit trading to promote optionality, risk mitigation, efficiency, and innovation

Inclusive: CI LCA methodology to be established by regulators with broad stakeholder input

Broad: Carbon reductions from feedstock and technology innovations, process improvements, and other fuel characteristics should be included regardless of sector or source

Timely: Monitoring and verification services should be provided by regulated 3rd party vendors to address regulator capacity constraints

Current: Periodic review of models and methodology to be performed to capture continuous improvements with evaluation schedules established and adhered to

Transparent: Updated analytical models to be peer reviewed and revised as applicable