EPA could link EV automakers to RFS
US regulators could link electric vehicle (EV) makers to incentives to increase power generated from renewable natural gas in an expansion of federal renewable fuel mandates proposed today.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to expand the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to generate credits needed to comply with the annual renewable fuel consumption mandates to include renewable natural gas-derived electricity contracted to meet light-duty electric vehicle charging demand beginning 1 January 2024.
The proposal would for the first time directly connect auto manufacturers to the annual renewable fuel mandates that have reshaped the US liquid fuels market and roiled refining strategies for more than a decade. Biogas-to-electricity incentives would fit with administration efforts to both spur electric vehicle adoption and address methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted by landfills, wastewater systems and large animal feeding operations.
But the proposal may face legal challenges over whether the agency has authority to expand the program in this manner. It may also undermine existing EV incentives in state-level low carbon fuel programs.
A new RIN pathway
EPA currently measures compliance with the RFS with renewable identification numbers (RINs) associated with each ethanol-equivalent gallon of renewable fuel blending into the US fuel supply. The agency today proposed allowing RIN generation from battery electric and plug-in hybrid light duty vehicles. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles would be included at some point, but regulators currently lack the information needed to determine appropriate RINs, the agency said. Non-road electric vehicles and equipment would be excluded.
Auto manufacturers would use data on appropriate new and legacy vehicles to determine the electricity use of their active fleet. Manufacturers could then contract with renewable electricity generators for power derived from the qualifying renewable gas sources. The manufacturers could receive RINs each quarter for up to the amount of power needed to power their active fleet from qualifying renewable natural gas.
Qualifying biogas-derived power may come from Canada or Mexico for use in an electric transportation vehicle in the US continguous 48 states.
Low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) markets and federal programs today encourage medium- and heavy-duty vehicle systems powered by compressed renewable gas from such sources.
Shifting biogas to the electric market allows for a wider, longer-term array of transportation options, the EPA wrote in its proposal.
"By tapping into the greater market for that biogas that is and can be converted to renewable electricity, the impending constraints on the use of biogas as a feedstock for renewable fuel production can be mitigated," the agency said.
Placing credit generation with auto manufacturers was a bid to quickly establish a manageable, nation-wide crediting system less susceptible to fraud, the agency said.
A different approach from states
But the proposed "top-down" approach inverts electric vehicle charging incentives used in west coast LCFS markets. California and Oregon use data from vehicle chargers and utilities to determine credits under their LCFS programs.
All forms of electric vehicle charging made up about 23pc of all new credits generated in the first half of this year in California, the largest and oldest North American LCFS market. Renewable natural gas that is treated, injected into commercial natural gas systems and delivered for use in compressed natural gas vehicle systems has also increased, as California offers outsized incentives for transportation fuel captured from dairy methane.
Rising credit generation and sluggish gasoline demand have helped sink California LCFS prices this year to six-year lows. California plans to update its LCFS program with tougher targets in a year-long process beginning in early 2023. The agency has sought comment on whether to rethink credits generated from renewable natural gas or biofuels derived from agricultural feedstocks.
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UN carbon market enshrines appeal, grievance processes
UN carbon market enshrines appeal, grievance processes
Berlin, 3 May (Argus) — The much-debated procedure for appeal and grievance processes for people negatively affected by carbon mitigation activities was finally passed this week by the regulator of the future UN carbon market. The supervisory body of the Paris agreement crediting mechanism, under Article 6.4 of the Paris climate agreement, called the appeal and grievance procedure a "crucial step towards developing a new international carbon market that sets the benchmark for high integrity carbon credits". The mechanism is expected to be passed at the UN climate summit Cop 29 in November in Azerbaijan. The appeal and grievance procedure sets the fee for filing an appeal at $30,000, compared with the $5,000 fee suggested in earlier iterations, which was seen by some supervisory body members at this week's meeting in Bonn, Germany, as "too low for project developers, but too high for vulnerable groups". The fee will be waived for appellants who are appealing for vulnerable groups, such as local communities and indigenous peoples. But the supervisory body failed to pass the mechanism's long-awaited sustainable development tool, instead launching a call for input. Members had criticised the lack of a validation and verification process for the tool, and its unclear delimitations, given that some of its objectives will be addressed in future rules on carbon removals activities or the carbon reduction methodologies under the mechanism. Making the tool mandatory was demanded by both countries and non-governmental organisations at recent Cop summits, with the lack of a grievance process and sustainable development tool part of the reason why the pricing mechanism was not finalised at Cop 28 in Dubai last year. The sustainable development tool of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM), which the new mechanism broadly aims to replace, was never made mandatory. A total of 1,796 carbon mitigation activities have now requested to transition from the CDM to the new mechanism, of which more than 300 have not yet provided full details and could miss the 31 August deadline, the UN's climate arm said in Bonn. The supervisory body called for an extension of the transition period to 4 November. Work on the new mechanism's registry is also advancing, with the supervisory body agreeing to launch a consultation on the "legal, technical and financial implications of providing functionality for the treatment of financial security interests in Article 6.4 emissions reductions within the mechanism registry". By Chloe Jardine Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
US biofuel groups challenge EU SAF regulation
London, 3 May (Argus) — US biofuel groups Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and US Grains Council and ethanol-to-jet producer LanzaJet have joined European renewable ethanol producers in their challenge to the ReFuelEU aviation regulation. The legal challenge, launched by ePure and Pannonia Bio in February, demands an annulment of the sections that exclude crop-based biofuels from the definition of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The regulation allows for SAF produced from biofuels, referring to point 33 in Article 2 of the bloc's recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) which includes "liquid fuel for transport produced from biomass". But it excludes biofuels produced from "food and feed crops". The US groups have filed an "application for leave to intervene" before the General Court of the EU, arguing that the regulation would "have a detrimental effect on the US ethanol industry". "The contested provisions give rise to a de facto ban on the supply of crop-based biofuels to the aviation sector in the EU" the associations said. Earlier this year ePure also challenged the bloc's FuelEU maritime regulation, which aims to boost the use of green bunker fuels, for excluding food and feed crop-based fuels from its certification process. By Evelina Lungu Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Beccs revenues 'dependent on sustainability'
Beccs revenues 'dependent on sustainability'
London, 3 May (Argus) — Danish state-controlled utility Orsted and UK utility Drax are increasingly dependent on sustainability criteria for their revenue streams from carbon removal (CDR) credit sales from bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs) projects, delegates heard at the Argus Biomass conference in London last week. "The key to be able to create such a project is to secure finance, which actually comes from the sale of carbon removal certificates," Orsted senior lead business developer for CCS David Fich said. Adding that the ability of companies to prove the sustainability of the biomass they source was now key to securing financing — including from CDR — for Beccs, and not only a matter of communicating that bioenergy and Beccs were environmentally friendly and carbon neutral businesses. Drax commercial director Angela Hepworth agreed: "Sustainability here is not a nice-to-have, this is the very foundation of our licence to upgrade and our ability to sell the credits and enable us to progress in these projects." Aligned standards within the industry and stronger incentives would encourage corporates to buy carbon credits against reputation backlashes, Hepworth added. Drax and Swedish utility Stockholm Exergi commissioned a methodology for measuring the net CO2 removal through Beccs published in October 2023, which was overall well-received by market participants. The utilities also presented it to the European Commission in the same month. A standardised approach to Beccs would encourage smaller buyers, which rely on certifications to identify the sustainable criteria of the carbon removal value chain when purchasing CDR credits, Fich said. While most larger corporates were doing their own due diligence. "The smaller buyers are those that are able to pay more," Fich said, adding that these companies were necessary to improve the liquidity of the market. Orsted signed a contract with Microsoft in May 2023 for the purchase of 2.76mn t of carbon removals over the next 10 years. Drax is also selling CDR certificates in the voluntary carbon market](https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2441200) and is hoping to get the credits into the UK's trading scheme. Such deals "will help to make Beccs credits be seen in the more mainstream markets," Hepworth said. By Marta Imarisio Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Oregon renewable diesel pours into CFP bank
Houston, 2 May (Argus) — Rising renewable diesel deliveries helped grow the volume of Oregon Clean Fuels Program (CFP) credits available for future compliance by a record 30pc in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to state data released today. The roughly 253,000 metric tonne (t) increase in available credits from the previous quarter — bringing the total to 1.1mn t — illustrates the spreading influence of US renewable diesel capacity on markets offering the most incentives for their output. California and Oregon low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credit prices have tumbled as renewable diesel deliveries generate a surge of credits in excess of immediate deficit needs. LCFS credits do not expire. LCFS programs require yearly reductions to transportation fuel carbon intensity. Higher-carbon fuels that exceed the annual limits incur deficits that suppliers must offset with credits generated from the distribution to the market of approved, lower-carbon alternatives. Renewable diesel volumes in Oregon increased by 12pc from the previous quarter to about 37,000 b/d — more than double the volume reported in the fourth quarter of 2022. The fuel represented 24pc of the Oregon liquid diesel pool for the period, while petroleum diesel fell to 75pc. Renewable diesel generated 46pc of all new credits for the quarter, compared to the 14pc from the next-highest contributor, biodiesel. Deficit generation meanwhile shrank from the previous quarter. Gasoline deficits fell by 6.6pc from the third quarter as consumption fell by roughly the same amount. Gasoline use trailed the fourth quarter of 2022 by 7.1pc. Diesel deficits also shrank as renewable alternatives push it out of the Oregon market. Petroleum diesel deficits fell by 19pc from the previous quarter and consumption was 27pc lower than the fourth quarter of 2022. Spot Oregon credits have fallen by half since late September, when state data offered the first indications that renewable diesel that was already inundating the California market had found its way to the smaller Oregon pool. The quarter marks the first time Oregon credits available for future compliance have exceeded 1mn t. Oregon in 2022 approved program targets extending into next decade that target a 20pc reduction by 2030 and a 37pc reduction by 2035. An ongoing rulemaking process this year will consider changes to how the state calculates the carbon intensity of fuels and verifies the activity of participants, but will not touch annual targets. By Elliott Blackburn Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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