California is beginning to address the potential environmental impact of biofuels made from soybeans or cow manure in a controversial overhaul of a key state program aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions in transportation.
The California Air Resources Board on Friday revamped its low-carbon fuel standard, requiring gasoline, diesel and other fuels meet stricter standards for greenhouse gas emissions. The changes update a program established in 2011 that seeks to increasingly restrict emissions while giving companies incentives to produce more renewable fuels.
The new rules have created a wide coalition of critics, from environmentalists who say the changes don’t go far enough to farm groups who argue the regulation limits the state’s ability to fight climate change. Critics are also worried that the rules will raise gas prices in a state where consumers are already facing some of the nation’s steepest costs at the pump.
While California’s low-carbon fuel program had previously championed farm waste from crops and livestock as an important tool to transition away from fossil fuels, the state is now reconsidering that plan amid pollution risks and issues around land use and deforestation. New changes cap the amount of credits for soy-based renewable diesel, with companies limited to receiving incentives for only 20% of these fuels.
The rules also require fuel producers to track where their crop-based and forestry-based feedstocks come from in order to minimize potential land use issues. Certification will be required to ensure bio-diesel and sustainable aviation fuel feedstocks are “not undermining natural carbon stocks.”
The changes are expected to accelerate a transition to electric vehicles and reduce the carbon intensity of California’s transportation fuel pool 30% by 2030 and 90% by 2045.
Farm groups outside of California have pushed back against the standard, saying it limits agriculture producers’ ability to participate in one of the largest biofuel markets in the United States. California accounts for nearly all of the nation’s renewable diesel consumption, and corn-based ethanol sales set a record in 2023.
Missouri’s Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote in a letter to CARB that California should take steps to meet its climate goals without “causing economic harm to our state’s agriculture industry.”
“Missouri farmers have a long history of environmental stewardship and should be viewed as a key part of improving air quality in California and throughout the Country,” Bailey wrote.
In addition to caps on renewable diesel, the revamped low-carbon fuel standard has a timeline for phasing out incentives for biogas produced from dairy methane capture. Existing projects can receive credits for 30 years, while those built before 2030 can secure incentives for 20 years.
Biogas groups applauded the steps to expand options for renewable fuels, but said limits on biomethane projects will stifle investment and hurt California’s ability to rein in emissions.
“California must ensure its climate policies continue to leverage the significant capacity and cooperation of the agricultural community to capture this short-lived climate pollutant by rewarding those who prevent methane emissions from entering our air,” Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council, said in a statement.
Environmental groups have also blasted the changes to the program, saying biogas’ climate benefits are dubious and that the phase-out timeline entrenches production for another three decades.
“The California Air Resources Board has locked California into a climate policy that rewards polluters,” Andrea Vidaurre, co-founder of People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, a climate group in the state’s Inland Empire, said in a statement.