A Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative committee has developed a framework for designing Midwestern clean fuels policies to incorporate farm-level emissions. The framework includes recommendations for quantifying emissions from energy and fertilizer use on farms and accounting for soil organic carbon storage. Continue reading »
Legislative sessions are underway across the United States, and climate legislation is a hot topic of debate at the federal and state levels. The Midwest is no different. Several Midwestern states are considering clean fuels policies as a tool to meet emissions reduction goals while benefiting the economy. We put together an inventory highlighting the state of play of clean fuels policies in Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Michigan. Continue reading »
Electric vehicles reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and reduce fuel and maintenance costs compared to conventional vehicles. Despite these benefits, the percentage of electric vehicles on roads in the Midwest is still relatively low. Clean fuels policies can spur electric vehicle deployment, as demonstrated in A Clean Fuels Policy for the Midwest: A White Paper from the Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy Initiative, which was published last year. Continue reading »
Today, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz directed state agencies to explore ways to reduce climate change impacts from transportation fuels in a way that is market-driven and fuel-neutral, according to a news release from the State of Minnesota. Led by the Minnesota departments of Agriculture and Transportation, the process will engage a broad cross-section of stakeholders statewide to identify shared goals and opportunities that will help to inform what a Clean Fuels Standard could look like in Minnesota. The agencies will provide a report summarizing the results and recommendations in February 2022, according to the release. Continue reading »
Gathering input from a wide-ranging group of stakeholders, the Great Plains Institute (GPI) has been working to develop and implement clean fuels policies (CFPs) in Midwestern states. A CFP is a technology-neutral, performance-based policy that reduces the use of high-carbon transportation fuels while providing incentives to deploy lower-carbon alternatives such as electricity, hydrogen, and biofuels. GPI has been hosting a webinar series, with each webinar focused on a different low-carbon fuel, as part of our work to educate more stakeholders about the benefits of a CFP.
