“The FuelEU Maritime regulation is unlawfully biased against crop-based biofuels and it harms ethanol producers around the world by denying them access to an emerging low-carbon fuel market,” RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement.
“In addition, the EU’s maritime regulation is entirely inconsistent with other programs, like the Renewable Energy Directive, in which the EU has confirmed the low-carbon benefits and sustainability of crop-based biofuels.”
In addition to “interfering” with biofuel trade opportunities with European partners, Cooper said the regulation would even hamper the ability of U.S. producers to sell low-carbon fuels to maritime shippers in the U.S.
“Because the regulation also applies to ships arriving at EU ports, it will affect the fuel choices made by EU-bound ship operators when they refuel outside the EU,” he said. “In this way, the regulation directly discourages development and use of low-carbon marine fuels here in the U.S.”
RFA said in its news release that in recent years the global shipping industry has identified ethanol, green methanol and other renewable fuels as “highly promising” alternatives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime sector.
RFA’s member producers have pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions for ethanol by 2050 or sooner, and a 2023 survey shows they are on the way to reaching that goal.
U.S. grain-based ethanol currently cuts greenhouse gas emissions significantly — often by 50% or more compared to gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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