The use of biofuels can increase land competition, leading to global land use change (LUC). LUC poses risks such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and food prices. The magnitude of the risk is uncertain, but could be significant. Given these uncertainties and risks, we suggest that...

Petroleum fuels make up essentially all of the transportation fuels used today. But fossil fuel use has many economic and environmental downsides, including a weakening of our energy security due to reliance on imported energy sources, air pollution that impacts health, and greenhouse gas (GHG)...

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is a performance-based regulation adopted in California in 2009 that requires regulated parties (e.g., oil producers and importers to California) to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of their fuel mix by at least 10% by 2020. It sets declining annual targets,...

• California’s low-carbon fuel market is growing. • Regulated parties in the State’s LCFS exceeded the requirements for 2011 and Q1 of 2012 by a substantial margin. • Based on available data, average compliance cost in August 2012 is $13/MT CO2e, adding about 0.1 cents per gallon to...

Performance-based low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) of the type implemented in California and being adopted in the European Union, are a promising policy approach for decarbonizing transport fuels and reducing fossil fuel use. This paper examines the efficacy of LCFS policies, along with four...

A new policy instrument, known as a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), is a promising approach to decarbonize transportation fuels. An LCFS has several important features: it applies a lifecycle carbon intensity standard, incorporates market mechanisms by allowing credit trading and targets all...

Performance-based low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) of the type implemented in California and being adopted in the European Union, are a promising policy approach for decarbonizing transport fuels and reducing fossil fuel use. This paper examines the efficacy of LCFS policies, along with four...