President Biden today announced a plan to greatly expand the production of clean cars and trucks, including a goal for electric vehicles to comprise 50% of new vehicle sales by 2030. The following is a statement from Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper:
“We agree with the Biden administration that action needs to be taken now to begin aggressively reducing GHG emissions from transportation. But decarbonizing our nation’s fuels and vehicles is going to take an all-of-the-above approach that stimulates growth in all available low-carbon technologies. The overarching goal should be to reach net-zero emissions as quickly as possible without dictating the pathway to get there or putting all our eggs into one technology basket. We believe any plan to decarbonize the transportation sector should recognize the massive opportunity for low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol to reduce GHG emissions from internal combustion engines in the near term.
“Even if half of new vehicles sold in 2030 are electric, four out of every five cars on the road that year will still have internal combustion engines that require liquid fuels. Renewable fuels like ethanol offer a solution that is available right here, right now at a low cost to jump-start decarbonization efforts. In fact, a recent analysis from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory shows that today’s ethanol reduces GHG emissions by more than half compared to gasoline. And last month, RFA’s ethanol producer members pledged to President Biden that we would ensure ethanol achieves a net-zero carbon footprint, on average, by 2050 or sooner. We are already well on the way to net-zero with ethanol and we encourage the Biden administration to embrace and promote renewable fuels as an important component of the nation’s decarbonization strategy.”
