by Zack Coleman (Politico Pro) Secretaries Wright, Rollins, Lutnick and others personally called nations to scrap a vote on carbon emissions from global shipping. -- Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday they personally called countries to push
State Department
Back TO HOMEUN Shipping Agency Delays Decision on Carbon Price under US Pressure
by Enes Tunagur and Jonathan Saul (Reuters) US and Saudi Arabia strongly oppose carbon price on shipping; Trump urged countries to vote no to the emission-reduction measure; Majority of 57 countries voted to delay decision, 47 opposed -- A majority of countries at the
October 17, 2025 Read Full Article
Brazil, US Test Tariff Truce with Gestures on Ethanol and Minerals
(Brazil Stock Guide) Lula seeks to reopen channels with Trump through Vieira–Rubio meeting in Washington, paving the way for a possible presidential encounter in Kuala Lumpur. Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira meets U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Thursday
October 17, 2025 Read Full Article
Clean Marine Fuels Are an Enormous Market Opportunity for U.S. Biofuels and Ag—Don’t Let It Sink
by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association) There’s an old saying in politics that suggests “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Sure, the adage is overused and a bit cliché. But it aptly describes events that will be
October 13, 2025 Read Full Article
Fortescue Takes Green Pioneer to New York
(Fortescue) The Fortescue Green Pioneer has sailed into New York for Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest annual climate event. -- The 75m dual fuel ammonia-powered vessel is docked on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, marking the latest stop on its 2025 global
September 23, 2025 Read Full Article
Trump Threatens to Use Tariffs to Derail Global Climate Measure: The Administration Is Escalating Its Attacks against a Carbon Tax for Shipping Emissions.
By Sara Schonhardt (E&E News Climatewire) The Trump administration is preparing to use tariffs and travel bans as reprisals against countries that support an upcoming agreement to put fees on shipping pollution. Those moves, outlined in an email to POLITICO’s E&E News,
August 19, 2025 Read Full Article
Trump’s Shipbuilding Push Falters as NSC Maritime Office Gutted
by Gram Slattery (Reuters/G Captain) Two senior officials at the White House National Security Council have left their roles in recent days, according to two sources familiar with the moves, the latest departures for a body that has been cut sharply in recent
July 17, 2025 Read Full Article
US Set to Object to Green Jet Fuel Recommendation at UN Aviation Council, Sources Say
by Allison Lampert and Oliver Griffin (Reuters) Global aviation sector strives for net zero emissions by 2050; Sustainable aviation fuel made from ethanol seen as one option; Brazil ethanol producers fear US interference in UN's SAF rules -- The U.S. is
June 17, 2025 Read Full Article
IMO Opens Global Talks to Secure Net-Zero Deal for Shipping
(International Maritime Organization) The International Maritime Organization (IMO) opened a critical round of negotiations aimed at finalizing new binding regulations to steer international shipping towards net-zero emissions over the next 25 years. Speaking at the opening of the 83rd session of the
April 10, 2025 Read Full Article
Trump Tariffs: USTR Highlights India's Ban on US Ethanol Imports as 'Unfair Trade Practice'
(Business Today/MSN) The United States Trade Representative highlighted certain trade policies they deemed ‘unfair’, including India’s ban on US ethanol imports. This comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held a call to discuss
April 08, 2025 Read Full Article
Recommendation on Sustainable Aviation Fuels at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
(Brazil Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Brazil welcomed with great satisfaction the technical recommendation on sustainable aviation fuels made during the 13th triennial meeting of the Aviation Environmental Protection Committee (CAEP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The recommendation, which will be submitted
March 07, 2025 Read Full Article
United States Objects to “Sustainable” Aviation Fuels Recommendation at International Civil Aviation Organization Meeting
by Tammy Bruce (U.S. Department of State) The United States strongly objects to a recommendation on “sustainable” aviation fuels made during the 13th triennial meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). This recommendation to
March 05, 2025 Read Full Article
U.S. Department of Energy Releases Request for Information on Defining Sustainable Maritime Fuels in the United States DEADLINE February 28, 2025
(U.S. Department of Energy) A consistent definition for sustainable maritime fuel will help inform and align stakeholders and support and advance future maritime fuel technology and investment. -- To support and advance future maritime fuel technology and investment, the U.S. Department of
December 18, 2024 Read Full Article
Philippines, Japan, United States Explore Energy Cooperation for Biofuels
by Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star) The United States’ top diplomat in Japan proposed a trilateral cooperation for biofuels among the US, Japan and the Philippines. -- Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, in a virtual meeting with the Philippine inter agency delegation’s US Ethanol
August 12, 2024 Read Full Article
Sustainable Aviation Challenge Unveiled by Salesforce, Airbus, Breakthrough Energy, Boom Supersonic, Deloitte, Eni, JetBlue Ventures, Qantas, World Energy, First Movers Coalition, UpLink, others
by Juan Pedro Tomas (Biofuels Digest) In Switzerland, Salesforce and partner companies, including Airbus, Breakthrough Energy, Boom Supersonic, Deloitte, Eni, JetBlue Ventures, Qantas Airways Limited, and World Energy, alongside the First Movers Coalition and UpLink, today unveiled the Sustainable Aviation Challenge sixteen most innovative start-ups that are accelerating the decarbonization of the aviation industry. The challenge calls
January 18, 2024 Read Full Article
Countries, Companies Signal Support for Energy Transition Accelerator
(Rockefeller Foundation/PR Newswire) Today (December 3, 2023) at COP28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the U.S. Department of State, the Bezos Earth Fund, and The Rockefeller Foundation presented the core framework of the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), an innovative carbon finance
December 04, 2023 Read Full Article
RFS15 The Policy Origins of the Renewable Fuel Standard (aka, "Ethanol"): The Ethanol Pivot
by Eric Vettel (Energy Today) ... Replacing lead with MTBE reduced emissions almost overnight. By 1995, the Sierra Club celebrated MTBE as the “innovation of the year,” and George H. W. Bush considered the reform one of the most notable accomplishments
August 07, 2023 Read Full Article
How Green Are Electric Vehicles? In Short: Very Green. But Plug-in Cars Still Have Environmental Effects.
by Hiroko Tabuchi and Brad Plumer (New York Times) Here’s a guide to the main issues and how they might be addressed. -- ... But a lot depends on how much coal is being burned to charge up those plug-in
April 05, 2021 Read Full Article
Center for Climate Strategies and Guatemala Create a New Private Sector Driven Plan
(Center for Climate Strategies) In partnership with RTI International, the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS) completed the Guatemala national Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) plan, a gold-standard public private participatory template to spur economic and social development while reducing GHG emissions
December 22, 2020 Read Full Article
Transition Book: Priorities for Administrative Action on Carbon Removal in 2021+
(Carbon 180) We partner with policymakers, scientists, and businesses around the globe to develop policy, promote research, and advance solutions that transform carbon from a pollutant to a resource and foster a prosperous, carbon-conscious economy that removes more from the
November 19, 2020 Read Full Article
Ag Policy Blog: Ethanol and Politics 2020
by Chris Clayton (DTN Progressive Farmer) Ethanol is undoubtedly playing a role in 2020 politics in Iowa, including the presidential race. Getting the word "ethanol" into the next aid package also might become a tipping scale in the Iowa U.S. Senate race. The
August 05, 2020 Read Full Article
Bernie Sanders and AOC Want Congress to Declare a National Emergency over Climate Change
by Tara Golshan (Vox) Climate activists around the world are pushing governments to treat global warming as an emergency. -- ... On Tuesday, they got three prominent progressive allies in the United States to publicly join their cause: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Reps.
July 10, 2019 Read Full Article
Ed Lotterman: Oil Prices, War, and a Bad Corn Crop
by Ed Lotterman (Bismarck Tribune) Unless National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo manage to gin up a war with Iran, the terrible crop conditions across much of the Midwest this year means that some fuel
July 01, 2019 Read Full Article
Energy E3 to Build Innovation Center, Increase Access to Sustainable Energy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
(U.S. Department of Energy) It powers nearly every aspect of our daily lives, but in low- to middle-income countries, more than one billion people live without electricity. The issue is particularly overwhelming in sub-Saharan Africa where, according to the U.S. Agency
September 14, 2018 Read Full Article
Opinion: Putin Has Finally Gone Too Far
by David Ignatius (The Washington Post) ... So how can the United States and its closest allies alter (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s behavior, if they’re truly serious about holding Russia to account? The answer, say several former senior CIA officials,
March 16, 2018 Read Full Article
U.S. Airlines Affirm Aviation Emissions Deal after Trump's Paris Pullout
by Allison Lampert and Victoria Bryan (Reuters) U.S. airlines on Tuesday affirmed their support for a plan to curb emissions from flights, under review by the administration of President Donald Trump who recently decided to take the country out of
June 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Helping Trump Help Bioenergy
by Douglas L. Faulkner (Cleantech Conservative/Biofuels Digest) ... The Trump Administration’s two recent Executive Orders on “Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth” and especially, “Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America” (March 28 & April 25, respectively), not only highlight renewable
May 17, 2017 Read Full Article
Tar Sands/Oil Sands Carbon Footprint Underestiated by Nearly 25%
by Lisa Song (The Energy Mix) In a finding that should resonate strongly for Canadian decision-makers charged with meeting the country’s climate targets, new research reveals that the carbon footprint of a litre of synthetic crude extracted from tar sands/oil
April 13, 2017 Read Full Article
Trump Administration Backs off Plan to Scrub Climate Pages from EPA Website
by Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin (The Washington Post) The Trump administration on Wednesday backed away from plans to take down some climate-change information from the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, which employees said had been planned for this week. But political appointees
January 26, 2017 Read Full Article
Trump’s Nixonian Pivot
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) News of high-level appointments have been streaming out of Trump Tower all this week and last, and two trends are already clear: it’s a group mostly out of the business and military communities, and there’s
December 22, 2016 Read Full Article
Pershing Says 'High-Ambition Coalition' Could See Life Post-Paris
by Jean Chemnick (E&E/Climatewire) ... Jonathan Pershing, who took over the top post at the Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change a few weeks ago, said the so-called high-ambition coalition that helped deliver December's accord could also inject ambition
May 03, 2016 Read Full Article
RFA Urges Secretary of State Kerry to Promote the Success of the RFS at COP21
(Renewable Fuels Association) The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sent a letter this week to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, urging him to promote the success of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) at the upcoming Paris climate talks, known as
November 12, 2015 Read Full Article
USGC: Ethanol Can Improve China’s Air, Water Quality
(U.S. Grains Council/Ethanol Producer Magazine) A U.S. Grains Council mission including U.S. environmental and public health specialists recently traveled to China to discuss how air and water quality in that country could be improved through the use of ethanol in the
August 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Government App to Help Companies Export Clean Energy Solutions
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) The International Trade Administration has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Energy are providing U.S.-based suppliers and providers of certain
February 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Climate Change Deemed Growing Security Threat by Military Researchers
By Coral Davenport (The New York Times) The accelerating rate of climate change poses a severe risk to national security and acts as a catalyst for global political conflict, a report published Tuesday by a leading government-funded military research organization concluded. The CNA Corporation Military
May 14, 2014 Read Full Article
U.S. Poised to Pump in More of Canada's Dirtiest Oil
By Renee Schoof (Star-Telegram/McClatchy) At the climate talks under way in Cancun, Mexico, the U.S. has assured the world it's not backing away from its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, however, the State Department looks likely
December 13, 2010 Read Full Article
DOE and Seven Other Agencies Launch Energy Export Initiative
(U.S. Department of Energy) U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today joined seven other U.S. Government agencies in launching the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Export Initiative, a coordinated effort to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency exports. In partnership with the