U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) reintroduced the Adopt GREET Act, which would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to update its outdated lifecycle modeling for ethanol and biodiesel, specifically by adopting the latest Argonne National Lab’s Greenhouse Gas and Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) Model. American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings issued the following statement:
“We appreciate Senator Thune’s and Klobuchar’s legislation, which helps lay the foundation for ethanol to decarbonize the transportation sector by requiring EPA to apply the latest GREET model to more accurately account for corn ethanol’s carbon intensity when establishing regulations which could impact ethanol use in the future.“The U.S. Department of Energy GREET model, which is widely recognized as the gold standard tool to audit the energy and environmental effects of transportation fuels such as ethanol and gasoline, indicates that corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gases by 50 percent compared to gasoline.“ACE is focused on helping farmers and ethanol producers maximize their low carbon investments, and while no model can fully replicate real-world activities, GREET is equipped with the best available science on lifecycle GHG emissions of transportation fuels and technologies because the assumptions and estimates used in GREET are under constant peer review and updates to the model occur annually.”
The legislation was cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
BACKGROUND:
In 2014, ACE began consulting with the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and ACE’s engagement has resulted in several refinements that better account for farmers’ evolving practices and more accurately quantify corn ethanol’s carbon intensity.
ACE’s 2018 white paper “The Case for Properly Valuing the Low Carbon Benefits of Corn Ethanol,” illustrates how lifecycle modeling needs to better reflect modern-day farming practices and ethanol production technologies and why increasing ethanol use is part of the solution to further reduce GHG emissions.
In 2020, ACE also helped lead a group of diverse stakeholders to develop a framework encouraging new low carbon fuel markets in the Midwest, including a recommendation that the latest GREET model be used to conduct lifecycle assessments.
All this work informed ACE’s collaboration on the RCPP project, which will compensate farmers for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices that sequester carbon, reduce GHG emissions, and improve soil health.