by Tim Albrecht (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Canada recently filed its 2017 annual biofuels report with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Global Information Network, showing Canadian production is at full capacity and imports of ethanol rose in the past year. The country
carbon price
Back TO HOMECarbon Taxes Can Be Both Fair and Effective, Study Shows
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology/EurekAlert!) Several different carbon-pricing approaches would help reduce emissions, and some would be fair as well, researchers report -- Putting a price on carbon, in the form of a fee or tax on the use of fossil fuels, coupled
April 18, 2018 Read Full Article
Cars Threaten Climate Goals in Blue States
by Benjamin Storrow (E&E News) ... Transportation emissions threaten to undercut blue states' climate goals, raising questions about their ability to lead U.S. climate efforts at a time when the federal government is rolling back environmental regulations. Emissions from cars, trucks
April 18, 2018 Read Full Article
California Says a Car-Emissions Deal With Trump Could Be Doable
by Mark Chediak, Ryan Beene, and John Lippert (Bloomberg) ‘Reason could prevail,’ chair of Air Resources Board says; State is considering a lawsuit to preserve its options -- California’s top air-quality regulator sees hope for a deal with the Trump administration over fuel
April 11, 2018 Read Full Article
Quantifying Carbon: Understand Cap-and-Trade Implications as U.S. West Coast & Canadian Provinces Combine Emissions Reduction Initiatives
(OPIS) On January 1, Ontario became linked with California and Quebec’s carbon allowance program, prompting uncertainty about carbon reduction programs and pricing structures in this expanded market. Download this free white paper and get an understanding of: Carbon prices in California, Quebec
April 10, 2018 Read Full Article
The Circular Economy: It’s Time Has Come
by KSL (Biofuels Digest) ... Prior to the energy crisis, most economies were too extravagant; now, they have now overreacted and have become retrenchment-mad. It is imperative to think rationally and design progress with the right analysis and tools to
March 30, 2018 Read Full Article
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
John Abraham, in an article in The Guardian, notes, "Biofuels can help solve climate change, especially with a carbon tax -- We’re not yet optimizing biofuel production for both economic and environmental factors." And, "If society is willing to pay a
March 15, 2018 Read Full Article
Biofuels Can Help Solve Climate Change, Especially with a Carbon Tax
by John Abraham (The Guardian) Biofuels can help solve climate change, especially with a carbon tax -- We’re not yet optimizing biofuel production for both economic and environmental factors ... These are great starts but we will still need some liquid fuels and for those,
March 15, 2018 Read Full Article
California May Tweak Climate Program That’s Pushing up Gas Prices
by David R. Baker (Seattle Times) ... Last week, the California Air Resources Board issued proposed changes that would delay some of the program’s targets, giving fuel providers more time to reach them. Instead of needing to cut the carbon intensity of
March 12, 2018 Read Full Article
Opinions: Why Fossil Fuels Survive
by Robert J. Samuelson (The Washington Post) ... It’s true that the Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement, making any transition harder. But the problems transcend President Trump’s disengagement, as a new study from the oil giant BP makes clear. Reading it,
March 01, 2018 Read Full Article
9 States Buck the Trump Administration and Move Forward with a Price on Carbon Pollution
by Natasha Geiling (ThinkProgress) Currently only one state in the country has an economy-wide cap on carbon. These states want to change that -- Lawmakers from nine states announced on Wednesday that they would be forming a coalition to help pass carbon pricing
February 01, 2018 Read Full Article
Canada’s Regional Governments Press on with Carbon Pricing
(Bioenergy Insight) Alberta is moving into phase two of its carbon levy and Ontario has expanded its cap and trade market. The moves mirror similarly anti-emissions sentiments in Federal governments. Introduced in 2017, Alberta's carbon tax is being raised from CA$20 to
January 12, 2018 Read Full Article
Washington State Readies Carbon Tax Push
(Axios) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, will unveil a carbon tax proposal in his address to the state Tuesday, local media reported Thursday. Why it matters outside of that Washington: The debate, while unique to the Evergreen State, is also emblematic of the struggles
January 05, 2018 Read Full Article
Federal Government Plan Aims to Reduce Carbon Content in Fossil Fuels
by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail) The federal government is moving to implement regulations to require all providers of fossil-fuel energy to reduce the carbon content of their fuels as part of its effort to meet Canada's targets for greenhouse gas
December 14, 2017 Read Full Article
Leaders Across the Americas Vow to “Make the Planet Great Again” by Establishing a Price on Carbon
by Waldo del Bosque (EcoSystem Marketplace) The United States may have withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, but national and regional leaders from across the Americas have vowed to “Make the Planet Great Again” by embracing a price on carbon at
December 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Put Price on Carbon, Stop Bad Bets on Fossil Fuels - UN's Guterres
by Alister Doyle (Reuters) Nearly 200 nations attending climate talks in Germany; Guterres calls for more carbon pricing, markets; Says climate action will help, not hinder, economic growth -- Governments should put a price on carbon emissions to help combat global warming and stop
December 12, 2017 Read Full Article
ADBA Chief Executive Talks Pushing Number 10 and Anaerobic Digestion Future
by Luke Acton (Bioenergy Insight) With the dearth of subsidies and volatile political environment, Charlotte Morton shared her views on what lay ahead for the UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) industry. Of the ten million tonnes of food waste a year in the
December 12, 2017 Read Full Article
Government of Ontario Expands Biofuels Support to Tackle Climate Change and Drive Clean Growth
by Rony Delucia (Advanced Biofuels Canada) The government of Ontario announced today new initiatives to strengthen the biofuels sector in the province, improve the environmental performance of fuels, and encourage the production of emerging advanced biofuels. Proposed changes to biofuels regulations include
December 01, 2017 Read Full Article
Put Price on Carbon, Stop Bad Bets on Fossil Fuels - UN's Guterres
by Alister Doyle (Reuters) Nearly 200 nations attending climate talks in Germany; Guterres calls for more carbon pricing, markets; Says climate action will help, not hinder, economic growth -- Governments should put a price on carbon emissions to help combat global warming and stop
November 15, 2017 Read Full Article
A Carbon Tax by Any Other Name Would Smell “Tax”
by Richard Gilmore (Biofuels Digest/GIC Group) ... The carbon tax alliance is led by prominent Republicans along with some fence sitting Dems and their respective linesmen from public policy think tanks. While seemingly counter-intuitive in light of the Administration’s rejection of any
November 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Banks Explore Challenges Decarbonisation Poses to Ship Finance
(American Journal of Transportation) “Many global financial institutions have committed to bringing their portfolios in line with the transition to a low-carbon economy. To fully achieve this, they must address the climate risks to hundreds of billions of dollars in shipping
November 08, 2017 Read Full Article
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure: Enabling Europe’s Bioeconomy
by Michael Eggleston* (Advanced Biofuels USA) From October 10th -11th the European Forum for Industrial Biotechnology and the Bioeconomy (EFIB) celebrated 10 years in Brussels, Belgium, as it plays a crucial role in providing a central meeting place for policy
November 01, 2017 Read Full Article
Heard on the Floor at ABLC Next 2017: Fulcrum Prices Bonds, GOP Governors’ Pro-Biofuels March on DC
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... In the biggest news sweeping the floor at ABLC Next 2017 and perhaps the biggest industrial biotechnology update of 2017, the long-awaited financing is approaching completion for Fulcrum Bioenergy’s highly-anticipated waste-to-fuels project in Nevada, that
October 19, 2017 Read Full Article
EPA Found a Carbon Rule It Can Like
by Anthony Adragna (Politico's Morning Energy) Sure EPA is proposing to roll back the Clean Power Plan, but that doesn't mean all carbon rules are off the table: The agency is even now working on a rule to regulate carbon from
October 16, 2017 Read Full Article
Global Maritime Forum, Carbon War Room Push for Decarbonization Urgency with Industry Task Force Launch
Global Maritime Forum, Carbon War Room, the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, and University College London (UCL) today announced the launch of a Task Force on Decarbonizing Shipping. This industry-led initiative will develop tangible pathways for shipping’s decarbonization through
October 10, 2017 Read Full Article
UPDATE 1-French President Macron Says Europe Needs Significantly Higher Carbon Price
by Bate Felix (Reuters) French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that Europe needed a significant minimum carbon price to boost investment in its energy transition, and a European carbon tax at the bloc’s borders to guarantee fair competition for its
September 30, 2017 Read Full Article
Any Renewable Energy Solution Requires Extracting the Full Value of Biomass
by A.J. (Sandy) Marshall (Bioindustrial Innovation Canada/Canada Biomass) ... Today, climate change concerns are demanding an ever-increasing management of greenhouse gases. As a result, society is establishing a pricing on carbon through cap and trade and carbon taxation mechanisms. This shift
September 25, 2017 Read Full Article
Republican Senator Endorses 'Price on Carbon' to Fight Climate Change
by Justin Worland (Time Magazine) Sen. Lindsey Graham endorsed a "price on carbon" to fight climate change, breaking with much of the Republican Establishment. Speaking at a climate change conference held by former Secretary of State John Kerry at Yale University, the South Carolina
September 25, 2017 Read Full Article
Failure to Set Cost of Carbon Hampers Trump’s Effort to Expand Use of Fossil Fuels
by Andrew Revkin (ProPublica) The Trump administration plans to sharply reduce the government’s estimate of how much each ton of carbon emissions harms the planet. It hasn’t done so yet, and that delay is slowing Trump’s effort to expand coal mining
August 28, 2017 Read Full Article
Some Democrats See Tax Overhaul as a Path to Taxing Carbon
by Lisa Friedman (The New York Times) With a sweeping overhaul of the tax code on the horizon, two Senate Democrats believe this is the moment to broach the third rail of climate change policy: a carbon tax. The plan by the senators, Sheldon
August 18, 2017 Read Full Article
Driving the News: Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii Are Introducing a Carbon Tax Bill
by Amy Harder (Axios) Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Brian Schatz of Hawaii are introducing a carbon tax bill next Wednesday at the American Enterprise Institute. If that sounds familiar, that's because they did the same thing two years ago with another
July 21, 2017 Read Full Article
Taxing Carbon — Letting Markets Work
by Tom Ewing (Renewable Energy World) A new business-based climate advocacy group stepped into the CO2 spotlight this summer. The Climate Leadership Council (CLC) took center stage with op-eds in the nation’s biggest dailies and a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal. The
July 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Trump’s Pitch for U.S. ‘Energy Dominance’ Is Dominated by Misleading Claims
by Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney (The Washington Post) The White House has branded this week “energy week,” rolling out a buzzword, “dominance,” and replaying lines from last year’s Trump campaign in an effort to portray the United States as
June 29, 2017 Read Full Article
Jet and Diesel from the Sticks: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Red Rock Biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In late 2015, we reported Red Rock Biofuels will produce approximately three million gallons of low-carbon, renewable jet fuel per year (at that time, from 2017 through 2024) for FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp, in
June 15, 2017 Read Full Article
Don’t Spill That Ethanol! Those Cellulosic Fuels Are Worth $4.33 a Gallon.
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The value of cellulosic fuels has reached $4.33 per gallon in the California market. That’s real-world, today, including the energy and the low-carbon attributes, and not based on speculation. The value has risen 59 cents,
June 14, 2017 Read Full Article
Updating and Improving the Social Cost of Carbon
(Resources for the Future) The social cost of carbon is an economic tool used to quantify the societal benefits of reducing —or conversely the damages of emitting—one ton of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. The estimate informs billions of dollars
June 09, 2017 Read Full Article
Leading Economists Conclude A Strong Carbon Price Is Vital To Meeting Global Climate Goals
by Joshua S Hill (Clean Technica) Leading economists have concluded that in an effort to meet the world’s agreed-upon climate goals in the most cost-effective way possible while still fostering growth, countries must set a strong carbon price, with an
May 30, 2017 Read Full Article
10 Industrial Biotechnology Wave Trends to Watch
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) There are news items, then there are trends, and finally there are wave trends — trends of critical importance and that carry the likelihood of having long-lasting impact. Like the fast ripples that presage a fearsome tsunami,
May 26, 2017 Read Full Article
Canada Ready to Impose Pollution Caps, Fuel Tax on Provinces
By David Ljunggren (Reuters) Canada said on Thursday it planned to impose a cap on pollution in provinces that refuse to adopt a national price on carbon, setting up a potential fight with the country's powerful energy-rich west. Last December the
May 19, 2017 Read Full Article
Ethanol and Biodiesel: Dropping Below the Production Cost of Fossil Fuels?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... As you can see from the hard data, the production cost for ethanol today is $1.22 per gallon, which translates to $51.24 per barrel. Now, on an energy basis — given that ethanol has 67%
May 19, 2017 Read Full Article
Rising Conservative Voices Call for Climate Change Action
by Saskia de Melker and Laura Fong (PBS News Hour) STEPHANIE SY: In the rising Eco-Right movement, you could say these are the Eco-Righteous. EVANGELICAL MARCHERS: Hey, hey! ho, ho! Fossil fuels have got to go! STEPHANIE SY: Among the throngs of environmentalists
May 15, 2017 Read Full Article
It’s Time for States to Save the Planet: State-Level Carbon Taxes Offer a Path to the Ultimate Climate Solution.
by Charles Komanoff (Huffington Post) The Carbon Tax Center is out with a new report timed to the surging climate movement. We surveyed all 50 U.S. states (and Washington, DC) to identify the ones with the most favorable conditions for
May 08, 2017 Read Full Article
As Trump Reverses Climate Actions, California Considers a Bold New Step
by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) ... Now, a new proposal, announced Monday, would replace California’s current cap and trade carbon pricing program, its flagship effort to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, with an updated — and,
May 04, 2017 Read Full Article
Great Leaf Forward: The Top 10 Trends Driving the Canadian Advanced Bioeconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Although the bigger players — China, the US, Brazil and the EU take most of the headlines in the advanced bioeconomy, Canada is definitely “boxing above its weight class” these days, as the saying goes. In
May 02, 2017 Read Full Article
Government Mind Games are Driving Investors Away from Biofuel & Other Bio-Based Projects
by Colin Ley (AgFunder News) The closer you get to the commercialization of a development, the harder it becomes to raise capital, and recent government activities around the world are not making life easier for innovators, speakers at the World
April 14, 2017 Read Full Article
What’s New? What’s Happening?: The Digest’s Multi-Slide Guide to California’s LCFS, and the RFS
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In our March Madness series, we’ve been covering emerging markets and technological pathways – now we turn to two other key drivers, market access and carbon pricing. There are two approaches — volumetric mandates and carbon
April 13, 2017 Read Full Article
It’s Not the Tax, It’s the EPA.
by Ben Geman (Axios-Axios Generate) Axios' Amy Harder asked an administration official about the prospects of a carbon tax, given that it has been rumored as a possible policy the White House could embrace. The official said the biggest reason it
April 10, 2017 Read Full Article
White House Disavows Two Controversial Tax Ideas Hours after Officials Say They’re under Consideration
by Damian Paletta and Max Ehrenfreund (Washington Post) The White House on Tuesday disavowed two controversial options for their planned overhaul of the tax code, after two Trump administration officials earlier in the day said the president's team was exploring
April 04, 2017 Read Full Article
Scientists Made a Detailed “Roadmap” for Meeting the Paris Climate Goals. It’s Eye-Opening.
by Brad Plumer (Vox) ... They start with the big picture: To hit the Paris climate goals without geoengineering, the world has to do three broad (and incredibly ambitious) things: 1) Global CO2 emissions from energy and industry have to fall in
March 24, 2017 Read Full Article
Eliminating Energy-Related Carbon Emissions Possible, IRENA Study Finds
(Zawaya) ... The report also describes how the energy sector transition needs to go beyond the power sector into all end-use sectors. Renewables need to account for the majority of power generation in 2050, based on continued rapid growth especially
March 22, 2017 Read Full Article
Europe Needs a Higher Price on Carbon
(Bloomberg) Europe’s promise to lower greenhouse-gas emissions looked bright a dozen years ago, when its leaders created the first big market for trading carbon permits. Sadly, though, its system has failed to encourage investment in clean technology and appreciably lower
February 21, 2017 Read Full Article
The Republican Carbon Tax Is Republican, Say Republicans
by Robinson Meyer (The Atlantic) There’s just one problem: other Republicans. ... But in an unregulated market, there’s no mechanism to keep people from emitting carbon dioxide, because it is cheap. So, et voilà, you invent just such a mechanism. You
February 18, 2017 Read Full Article
The $40 Carbon Tax Is Dead as a Doornail, and Here’s Why
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This past week, a group headed by former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Jim Baker proposed dramatically to introduce a $40 per ton carbon tax in order to address the rising threat from global
February 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Trump Releases "An America First Energy Plan"
(White House) Energy is an essential part of American life and a staple of the world economy. The Trump Administration is committed to energy policies that lower costs for hardworking Americans and maximize the use of American resources, freeing us
January 20, 2017 Read Full Article
The Coming Battle between the Trump Team and Economists over the True Cost of Climate Change
by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) ... It seems increasingly likely that the Trump administration would either alter, or attempt to stop using entirely, an Obama-era metric known as the “social cost of carbon” in its federal rule-making processes. And that could have have
December 22, 2016 Read Full Article
Birth of Mideast Renewables?
by Anthony Adragna (Politico's Morning Energy) Squeezed budgets from low oil prices since mid-2014, combined with rising energy demand, will boost demand for renewable energy and efficiency technologies across the Middle East, according to a white paper published Monday following
December 13, 2016 Read Full Article
Fuels, Joules & Molecules: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Paul Bryan’s “The Future of Biomass”
by Paul Bryan (Biofuels Digest) Without a significant cost of CO2 emissions, biofuels will never gain enough market share to meaningfully reduce those emissions,” said Paul Bryan at ABLC Next in San Francisco. Agree, disagree? Former VP Biofuels for Chevron and
November 28, 2016 Read Full Article
WBA Calls on COP22 Delegates to Push for Carbon Tax to Aid Paris Climate Agreement
(Bioenergy Insight) The World Bioenergy Association (WBA) has called on the delegates attending the 22ndConference of Parties (COP22) at Marrakech, Morocco to push for a carbon tax to help countries achieve the targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. The
November 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Canadian Producers Poised for Carbon Reduction Era
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The state of the Canadian ethanol industry at year end. -- Optimism is growing among Canadian biofuel producers as the federal government is embracing carbon reduction strategies in its climate change action plan.
November 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Canada's "Chemical Valley" Lobbying to Lure New Biofuel Plant
(AgriMarketing/Reuters) Sarnia, Ontario, home to dozens of Canada's refineries and chemical plants, is lobbying hard to lure a biotech plant to the city as the local petrochemical-powered economy braces for the impact of a provincial carbon-pricing scheme. BioAmber Inc - which
November 15, 2016 Read Full Article
With Canada and Mexico on Board, Carbon Pricing Could Become a Reality Across North America with Expanded U.S. Action
(Center for American Progress) Carbon taxes and emissions trading systems, once considered political moonshots in the battle to combat carbon emissions, have found purchase in Canada, Mexico, and parts of the United States, raising the possibility that carbon pricing could
November 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Derisking: A Strategy for Growing the Biobased Economy
by Neil A. Belson (LeafPro Bioproducts/Biofuels Digest) ... Despite its potential benefits and some very real achievements, the biobased economy has overall progressed more slowly than many had hoped. There are several reasons for this slow progress. Technological challenges involved in
October 28, 2016 Read Full Article
The New World Has Arrived: 16th International Conference Datagro Sugar and Ethanol Promotes the Innovations of the Sector
[caption id="attachment_78189" align="alignleft" width="300"] Panel of Experts discussing "Ethanol and Economic Development" at Datagrow 2016 conference[/caption] by Laís Forti Thomaz* (Advanced Biofuels USA) On October 17-18, 2016, Datagro held its 16th International Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Once again, this event reunited
October 24, 2016 Read Full Article
Carbon Pricing in North America – Leading a New Era of Climate Policy
by Tamaki Stiles * (Advanced Biofuels USA) Reducing greenhouse emissions is a shared goal in North America. In fact, presidents of the United States and Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada met in June this year to establish partnerships
October 19, 2016 Read Full Article
It Could Be the Nation’s First Carbon Tax. And Environmentalists Are Fighting over It
by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) A new initiative slated for the ballot in Washington state next month would create the first-ever carbon tax to be implemented in the United States. But while the initiative promises to fight climate change by making it
October 19, 2016 Read Full Article
Clinton Camp Worried Carbon Tax Would Be ‘Lethal’
by Timothy Cama (The Hill) Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager feared that endorsing a carbon tax would be “lethal” to her campaign. Hacked emails released Thursday by WikiLeaks belonging to John Podesta showed her top aides trying to to walk a
October 14, 2016 Read Full Article
We’re Placing Far Too Much Hope in Pulling Carbon Dioxide out of the Air, Scientists Warn
by Chelsea Harvey (The Washington Post) ... This is largely a market problem, according to Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer and carbon capture expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “There’s no doubt you can do it,” he said. “We have coal
October 13, 2016 Read Full Article
FACT SHEET: 191 Countries Reach a Global Climate Deal for International Aviation
(The White House) Today, in Montreal, Canada, 191 countries decided to adopt a global market-based measure to reduce carbon emissions from international aviation at the 39th Assembly meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Today’s action builds on last
October 07, 2016 Read Full Article
Climate's Growing Role in Presidential Race
by Anthony Adragna (Politico's Morning Energy) ... YOU BUILD ME UP: The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate released a report today that found $90 trillion in infrastructure investments will be needed over the next 15 years, and issued
October 06, 2016 Read Full Article
Ecofiscal Commission's Biofuel Report Is Deeply Flawed, a Step Backward for Climate Action
(Advanced Biofuels Canada/Newswire) A controversial report was released today (October 4, 2016) by Canada's Ecofiscal commission that misses the mark on practical guidance for reducing climate change emissions in transportation. If the recommendations in Course Correction: Why it's time to
October 05, 2016 Read Full Article
Christopher Ragan: Stop Subsidizing Biofuels
by Christoper Ragan (National Post) Carbon pricing is becoming a mainstream part of Canadian policy. Four provinces have or will soon have carbon prices, one more has made a commitment to do so, and the federal government is now promising
October 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Advanced Biofuels Canada Supports Federal Carbon Pricing
(Advanced Biofuels Canada/Yahoo! Finance) The federal government announced today its intention to place a national price on carbon emissions of $10 per tonne in 2018, rising by $10 per tonne each year to $50 per tonne by 2022. The federal
October 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Ottawa to Impose a National Carbon Price on the Provinces
by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail) The Liberal government will move this fall to impose a minimum, national carbon price on provinces that fail to adopt their own pricing system for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, a plan that is adamantly opposed by
September 19, 2016 Read Full Article
With More People Hitting the Road, It’s Time for a Carbon Tax
(The Washington Post) ... Even with current conditions factored in, government experts project that fuel-efficiency standards will put much more downward pressure on gasoline use in coming years, helping to bring consumption well below historical highs over the coming decades, even
September 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Strategic Intent: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to DSM in the Advanced Bioeconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This season, The Digest is hosting the Strategic Intent webinar series, looking at the plans, progress and future milestones of strategic stakeholders in the Advanced Bioeconomy. In this slide deck, we looked at DSM and its direct investments, partnerships
September 02, 2016 Read Full Article
Libertarian Gary Johnson on 2016: 'This is the demise of the Republican Party'
by John Harwood (CNBC) ... JOHNSON: I do think that climate change is occurring, that it is man-caused. One of the proposals that I think is a very libertarian proposal, and I'm just open to this, is taxing carbon emission that
August 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Court Upholds Obama's Social Cost of Carbon Accounting for Federal Regulations
by Robert Walton (Utility Dive) The Obama Administration has won a significant victory for its use of a social cost metric to determine the impacts of new environmental and efficiency rules, in a unanimous circuit court decision that appeared to leave opponents with little
August 23, 2016 Read Full Article
Court Backs Obama’s Climate Change Accounting
by Timothy Cana (The Hill) A federal appeals court is upholding the Obama administration’s accounting of the costs of greenhouse gas emissions as applied to a Department of Energy (DOE) regulation. In a unanimous decision late Monday, the Chicago-based 7th Circuit
August 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Canada to Introduce National Carbon Price in 2016, Minister Says
by Josh Wingrove (Bloomberg) Government will publish plan to reduce emissions by the fall; Environment Minister McKenna argues for uniformity in approach -- Canada will have a national price on carbon emissions by the end of this year, Environment Minister Catherine
July 19, 2016 Read Full Article
Sanders’s Next Challenge: Where Will He Take His Revolution?
by David Weigel and John Wagner (The Washington Post) ... Sanders’s role is under discussion, but he has said a more immediate priority is trying to find common ground on the issues he championed during the primaries. “It’s not just Bernie Sanders
June 27, 2016 Read Full Article
A Disappearing Non-Renewable Carbon User Fee
by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA/BiofuelNet Canada) If we are serious about reducing Climate Change caused by Greenhouse Gases (GHG), then we need serious action. First, include the price of Greenhouse Gas effects in the non-renewable portion of fuels and
June 23, 2016 Read Full Article
A Smart Tax: Pricing Oil for a Safe Climate
by Deborah Gordon, Jessica Tuchman Mathews (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) Because of the growing chemical and geological diversity of the new oils, the lack of alternative liquid fuels for transportation, and the size and global scope of oil production
June 22, 2016 Read Full Article
Psst! Heard on the Floor at the International Bioenergy Conference
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The eyes of the world might well be on tiny Prince George, British Columbia these days — because that is the proposed site of Canfor’s commercial-scale biofuels and chemicals project. The success of such a
June 22, 2016 Read Full Article
US Economy Growing Steadily but Key Reforms Meeded
(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) The US economy is making one of the strongest comebacks in the OECD, but there are risks on the horizon, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of the United States. Seven years after the
June 17, 2016 Read Full Article
GOP to Rule Out Carbon Tax
by Timothy Cama (The Hill) House Republicans this week will vote to condemn taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, slamming the door on an idea that some members of their party have flirted with in the past. The nonbinding resolution, sponsored by Majority
June 08, 2016 Read Full Article
American Nations to Start Carbon-Price Talks, World Bank Says
by Mathew Carr (Bloomberg) Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru plan July meeting in Santiago; Nations studying taxes, trading systems after Paris deal -- Four American nations are set to start talks on ways to co-operate on carbon pricing, according to the World
June 02, 2016 Read Full Article
The World Could Phase Out Fossil Fuels within a Decade
by Anthony Cuthbertson (Newsweek) ... Fossil fuels, the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases, have been steadily losing ground to clean energy solutions, such as wind and solar, in developed nations. This has been helped by significant cost reductions in technologies—solar dropped
April 19, 2016 Read Full Article
Proxy Carbon Pricing: A Tool for Fiscally Rational and Climate-Compatible Governance
by Alison Cassady and Gwynne Taraska (Center for American Progress) ... By putting a price on carbon, governments can correct the market’s failure to account for the climate costs of burning fossil fuels; in so doing, carbon pricing mechanisms
April 18, 2016 Read Full Article
Putting a Price on Carbon: Ensuring Equity
by Noah Kaufman, Michael Obeiter and Eleanor Krause (World Resources Institute) Putting a Price on Carbon: Ensuring Equity finds that the revenues form a carbon price can be used to address regional disparities and ensure that unfair burdens are not imposed
April 08, 2016 Read Full Article
Can Biofuel Crops and Cover Crops Coexist?
by Lisa Young (AgriNews) Cover crop and row crop biofuels systems can work together. They may have to as the Renewable Fuel Standard spurs increased demand for biofuels while many are calling for more controls on agricultural nutrient runoff. Researchers
April 06, 2016 Read Full Article
Ted Cruz on Energy and Climate: Free Market Directions
by Robert Bradley Jr. (Master Resource) ... 1) Do you support ending all energy subsidies, including cleaning up the tax code to treat all types of energy the same? A: Yes, I support a true all-of-the-above approach to energy, ending all
April 04, 2016 Read Full Article
A Look at Six State Proposals to Tax Carbon
by Peter Vail and Dallas Burtraw (Resources for the Future) As the political likelihood of passing comprehensive national climate policy has remained low, many states have taken up the mantle. This devolution of climate policy has been further reinforced by the US
March 21, 2016 Read Full Article
House Hearing Attacks #RFS
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) The House Oversight Subcommittees on Interior and Healthcare, Benefits and Administrative Rules held a joint hearing Wednesday to ostensibly examine the Renewable Fuel Standard but was basically an attack on the law. EPA Office of Transportation and Air
March 18, 2016 Read Full Article
An Open Letter to the New US House of Representatives Free Market Green Coalition - Without a Price on Pollution, There are No Market-Based Solutions to Clean Up the Environment
by Robert Kozak* (Advanced Biofuels USA) We welcome US Representatives Adam Kinzinger, Barbara Comstock, Joe Heck, Chris Gibson, Ryan Costello, Kevin Yoder, Richard Hanna, Dave Reichert, Elise Stefanik, Carlos Curbelo, Tom Reed and Bob Dold to the fight against climate
March 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Ross McKitrick: How Politicians Wrecked the Case for Carbon Taxes
by Ross McKitrick (Financial Post) The existing policy framework has destroyed the possibility for carbon taxes to achieve efficiency -- In his March 2 article, “The cheapest way to cut carbon,” economist Trevor Tombe presents the basic logic of emission
March 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Canada PM, Provinces Set Outlines of Carbon Pricing Deal
by Julie Gordon (Reuters) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau persuaded the country's 10 provinces on Thursday to accept the concept of putting a price on carbon but agreed the specific details could be worked out later. The compromise deal was unveiled
March 07, 2016 Read Full Article
Washington Lawmakers Consider Putting A Price On Carbon
by Ken Christensen (KCTS9/EarthFix) State lawmakers this week began discussing a measure that could make Washington the first state to tax residents and businesses on their carbon emissions. ... More than 350,000 voters signed petitions for Initiative 732. Under state law, Washington’s
February 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Mitigation of International Aviation Emissions: The Flightpath from Paris to Montreal
(GreenAir Online) ... Of particular relevance is the development by ICAO of a global market-based measure (MBM) for consideration by the 39th Session of its Assembly later this year and intended implementation from 2020. Chris Lyle reviews some implications of
January 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Reports from IMF and French Economists Call for Climate Taxes on International Aviation Fuel or Air Travel
(GreenAir Online) Two reports, one an International Monetary Fund (IMF) internal discussion note and the other by the Paris School of Economics (PSE), suggest taxing international aviation fuel or air travel could provide an equitable solution to raising global finance
January 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Pushmi-Pullyu: How Do Carbon Prices and Fuel Mandates Work Together in Breaking through a Fossil Fuel Monopoly? Or, Do They?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sometimes, the set-up of the transition from fossil fuels is as pretty and impractical as Dr. Doolittle’s Pushmi-Pullyu. The Digest investigates. -- ... For example, a renewable fuel does not qualify under the Renewable Fuel Standard
January 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Consumer Rebate: Legislation Puts Price on Carbon
by Barbara Vergetis Lundin (SmartGridNews.com) ... "... My Consumers REBATE Act takes the revenue generated from pricing carbon over time and puts it in the hands of consumers to empower individuals to become more efficient in their energy choices," said McNerney
January 11, 2016 Read Full Article
Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform: From Rhetoric to Reality
by Shelagh Whitley and Laurie van der Burg (New Climate Economy) The research underpinning this New Climate Economy Working Paper was a major input into the 2015 New Climate Economy report and articulates the practical steps that policymakers can take to
December 22, 2015 Read Full Article
Meet the New Climate Villain: Cheap Oil
by Charles Komanoff (Carbon Tax Center) ... The average price of gas sold in the U.S. over the past ten months is 25 percent below last year’s price — the steepest drop in at least 70 years. Americans are responding by
December 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Biofuels to Bioeconomy Conference Speaker Summaries Published
(Biofuels Digest) In Canada, the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association released a 16-page synopsis of more than a dozen addresses at the recent Canadian Bioeconomy Summit. The synopsis team was led by Dr. Jack Saddler, ... READ MORE Download Summaries Excerpt from
December 14, 2015 Read Full Article
The Paris Climate Agreement: What it Says, and What it Means
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) “The World Starts from Tomorrow” says UN Secretary-General -- In France, representatives from 195 nations approved the Paris Agreement on global, coordinated response framework for climate change. Acceptance of the Agreement arrived at the end
December 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Best Chance to Save the Planet: The Digest’s 2015 8-Slide Guide to the Paris Agreement
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Guiding the delegates at Paris for the recent, historic climate change agreement was a whole bunch of data on energy. One of the most intelligent offerings on that topic came from the International Energy Agency,
December 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Elon Musk Calls for Carbon Price to Halve the Transition Time to Clean Energy
by Lenore Taylor (The Guardian) Businessman and innovator says a scheme similar to the one Australia abandoned would make a huge difference in tackling climate change --- Addressing students at the Sorbonne University on the sidelines of the Paris climate
December 04, 2015 Read Full Article
Statement - Minister McKenna Congratulates Manitoba's Climate Action Contributions
(Environment and Climate Change Canada /PR Newswire) On behalf of the Government of Canada, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, congratulated Manitoba on its contributions to climate action in Canada. "Manitoba has placed great emphasis on green energy in
December 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Skyfill: Where the Sky Is a Free Sewer, Are Bioeconomy Thermodynamics Extremely Flawed from the Get Go?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... As the reader notes, much of the original underlying biomass is not utilized when we make a hydrocarbon fuel, or any fuel. Take the case of corn, for example, and conversion into ethanol. We start
November 17, 2015 Read Full Article
BP Says Carbon Charge Needed to Make Renewables Cost Competitive
by Sarah Kent (Global Finance) ... The cost of producing energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind will fall sharply over the next 35 years, BP PLC said Monday, but without a system in place that levies a charge for
November 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Governments to Raise $22 Billion from Carbon Pricing in 2015: Report
by Susanna Twidale (Reuters) Governments around the world will this year raise around $22 billion from schemes putting a price on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions such as taxes or emissions trading systems, a report on Wednesday showed. The role of carbon pricing,
November 02, 2015 Read Full Article
Everyone’s Favorite Climate Change Fix
by Cristina Maza (The Christian Science Monitor) Economists, officials, and executives across the globe increasingly support carbon pricing to stem the rise of greenhouse-gas emissions. Can it work? --- ... “Pricing carbon obviously adds a cost to our production and our products,”
October 29, 2015 Read Full Article
Canada Could Slash CO2 Emissions with Existing Technologies, Proven Policies
by Emily Chung (CBC News) Regulation or pricing of emissions is key, Council of Canadian Academies suggests -- Canada could drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions and meet international climate change commitments using existing commercially available technologies and policies that have
October 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Working Paper: Implementing Effective Carbon Pricing
by James Rydge (New Climate Economy) Support for carbon pricing is growing around the world. Governments, businesses and investors are recognising that nationally-appropriate taxes and trading schemes, as part of a well-aligned package of policies for low-carbon change, can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
October 27, 2015 Read Full Article
Leaders Call for Carbon Pricing Worldwide
(Agence France-Presse/Global Post) A group of world leaders called Monday for countries around the world to put a price on carbon to strengthen the international fight against climate change. As a week of talks on a global climate agreement opened in
October 20, 2015 Read Full Article
Carbon Pricing Beats Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards
(Environmental Leader) Currently planned fuel economy standards (extended to the year 2050) would cost 10 percent of the economy’s global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2050, compared with only 6 percent under cap-and-trade carbon pricing, according to a study published
October 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Fossil Fuel Industry Must 'Implode' to Avoid Climate Disaster, Says Top Scientist
by Damian Carrington (The Guardian) ‘The age of carbon is over’ and a transition to a greener economy is inevitable, says Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, adviser to the German government and Pope Francis ... Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, an adviser to the German government
July 13, 2015 Read Full Article
Seizing the Global Opportunity
(Global Commission on the Economy and Climate) The new report Seizing the global opportunity: partnerships for better growth and a better climate, released today by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, provides 10 practical recommendations that will boost economic
July 07, 2015 Read Full Article
Justin Trudeau's Environment Plan: End Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Invest in Clean Tech
by Trinh Theresa Do (CBC News) Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has unveiled myriad environmental promises in Vancouver, including hundreds of millions of dollars in clean technology investment and a continued focus on climate change. ... Within 90 days of the conference, a
June 30, 2015 Read Full Article
Big Oil Companies Want a Price on Carbon. Here’s Why.
by Ben Geman (National Journal) Natural-gas profits have Shell and BP, among others, calling for increased use of carbon-emissions fees ahead of a make-or-break climate summit in Paris. Six oil and gas giants based in Europe have delivered an unusual joint
June 02, 2015 Read Full Article
Miscanthus Tops Stover, Switchgrass as Ideal Ethanol Source
(Farm Futures) Models predict that miscanthus will have higher fuel yield and profit when compared to corn stover and switchgrass A recent study simulated a side-by-side comparison of the yields and costs of producing ethanol using miscanthus, switchgrass, and corn stover,
March 05, 2015 Read Full Article
Imposing Carbon Price Would Spur Bioenergy, Slash Emissions -- MIT Study
by Amanda Peterka (E&E Publishing / Greenwire) Bioenergy production would boom and spur steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions if a global price is slapped on carbon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers say in a report released today. Examining bioenergy production
January 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Carbon Pricing Coming to Ontario, Strategy to Be Unveiled this Year
by Adrian Morrow (Globe and Mail) The Ontario government is closing in on a plan to put a price on carbon emissions after nearly seven years of delays. The Liberals have promised to make corporations and consumers pay for
January 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Five Myths about Gas Taxes
by Paul Bledsoe (The Washington Post) A dramatic 40 percent drop in oil prices since June has prompted new discussion aboutraising the long-static federal gasoline tax and has many states considering gas tax hikes as well. At the federal level, Congress
December 22, 2014 Read Full Article
Three Ways Renewables Could Benefit From Low Oil Prices
by Jeff McMahon (Forbes) ... International Energy Agency director Maria van der Hoeven and U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz appeared together Thursday at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington DC, where van der Hoeven presented the findings of IEA’s 2014 review
December 19, 2014 Read Full Article
Sen. Whitehouse to Push Carbon Price Bill
by Laura Barron-Lopez (The Hill) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is preparing legislation that will put a price on carbon and he plans to introduce it next month. Whitehouse announced the legislation during a conference at New York University on
October 29, 2014 Read Full Article
Why Business Leaders Support a Price on Carbon
(The World Bank) The companies we turn to every day for electricity, transportation, consumer goods, and even electronics face risks from climate change. Most need reliable water for production processes and products. Extreme weather and temperatures can hurt their productivity
August 11, 2014 Read Full Article
Carbon Pricing Won't Solve Climate Change. Innovation Will.
by Matthew Stepp and Megan Nicholson (Christian Science Monitor) Putting a price on carbon doesn't work because no one wants to pay the real cost of using fossil fuels. But funding R&D and demonstration projects that lower clean-energy costs will
June 17, 2014 Read Full Article
Obama Really Wishes He Could Put a Price on Carbon
(Grist) President Obama explained his thinking about climate change during a sit-down interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman; it will air Monday night during the final episode of Showtime’s climate series “Years of Living Dangerously.” Friedman also shared lots of
June 09, 2014 Read Full Article
Major U.S. Companies Disclose Internal Prices on Carbon, Cite Risk from Climate Change and Extreme Weather, Business Opportunities
(CDP) Twenty-nine major publicly traded companies based in or operating in the U.S. disclosed an internal price on carbon pollution to CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) in 2013, detailing both the risk and potential business opportunity for
December 09, 2013 Read Full Article
White House Revisits ‘Social Cost of Carbon’
by Ben Geman (The Hill E2Wire) The White House will seek new public comment on the “social cost of carbon" (SCC), a metric that helps regulators estimate the benefits of rules that cut greenhouse gas emissions. The Office of Management and
November 26, 2013 Read Full Article
CBO: Carbon Tax Chops $1 Trillion from Deficit
by Ben Geman (The Hill E2Wire) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) floated 103 ways to help cut the deficit Wednesday, and one option takes out a much bigger bite than any other: A carbon tax. A $25-per-ton tax that rises 2 percent annually
November 25, 2013 Read Full Article
Time to Reconsider a Carbon Tax?
by Wallace E. Tyner (PennEnergy/Purdue University) ... First, with the new IPCC report it is abundantly clear that global warming and climate change represent a clear and present danger not only to the US but for the entire planet. The only
November 21, 2013 Read Full Article
Designing a Fair Carbon Tax
by Daniel F. Morris (Resources Magazine) ... Although putting a price on carbon may possibly have regressive impacts, economic estimates can overstate these impacts by using short-term or nonrepresentative income measures. In fact, some research suggests that a carbon tax may even
November 18, 2013 Read Full Article
Future Perspectives of International Bioenergy Trade
by Matzenberger, J., Daioglou, V., Junginger, M., Keramidas, K., Kranzl, L., Tromborg, E. ( IEA Bioenergy Task 40) According to IEA World Energy Outlook 2012, primary demand for bioenergy will strongly increase up to the year 2035, the demand for biofuels and biomass
September 19, 2013 Read Full Article
Lawmakers Concerned New Carbon Metric Developed in Secret
by Jullian Hattem (The Hill Reg Watch) Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are worried that an Obama administration decision to increase the value used to calculate costs and benefits of carbon emissions was done without public scrutiny. Legislators on
July 22, 2013 Read Full Article
54.40 or Fight: the Cost of Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Security and Economic Development
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...The financing of biofuels is founded, to put it as simply as possible, upon the economics of substitution. On the one hand, there’s the price of energy currently locked inside biomass; on the other hand,
July 16, 2013 Read Full Article
IMF: Governments Need to End Energy Subsidies
by Howard Schneider (The Washington Post) Government subsidies of gasoline, electricity and other energy sources amount to about $1.9 trillion a year and should be ended or offset with taxes used to battle climate change and pay for social programs, the International
March 28, 2013 Read Full Article
IMF: Want to Fight Climate Change? Get Rid of $1.9 Trillion in Energy Subsidies.
by Brad Plumer (The Washington Post) What’s the simplest way to tackle global warming? Make sure that fossil fuels are priced properly and not subsidized. That’s the core idea behind a large new report (pdf) from the International Monetary Fund, which argues that the
March 28, 2013 Read Full Article
Nobel Prize-Winning US Economists Urge Obama to Support Carbon Pricing in Global Negotiations on Aviation Emissions
(GreenAirOnline) A group of 32 leading US economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners, have written an open letter to President Obama urging him to advance proposals at ICAO for a global market-based measure that would effectively and efficiently reduce greenhouse