Sustainability

Clean Fuels: Driving Economic
and Environmental Value

In the pursuit of net-zero emissions, clean fuels stand out as an immediate, proven solution. As drop-in replacements for petroleum diesel fuels, they reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by at least 70% on average and support more than $42 billion in annual economic activity for farm workers, producers and distributors.

Industry Adoption and Supply Chain Value

Leaders across industries are incorporating clean fuels into fleets and operations to meet ambitious sustainability goals. Today, clean fuels make up an increasing share of the U.S. diesel pool. Making the switch, whether through physical delivery or market-based mechanisms, is becoming easier and returning credible environmental value to every participant in the supply chain, from fuel producers to business travelers and logistics customers.

Clean fuel production also strengthens rural economies, creating $42.4 billion in economic activity, supporting over 107,000 jobs and generating $6 billion in wages in 2024 alone.

Immediate Solutions for Measurable Impact

As sustainability leaders face increasing pressure to decarbonize while contributing to the bottom line, clean fuels provide a credible, trackable solution that reduces the fuel consumer’s carbon footprint and generates product solutions for customers looking to do the same.

Their adoption cuts emissions at the source, reduces long-term costs, mitigates regulatory risks and accelerates progress toward net-zero targets. Because clean fuels easily integrate into current engine technologies at little to no cost, value can be added immediately, helping the consumers’ bottom line.

By employing cutting-edge market-based mechanisms such as book-and-claim, clean fuel consumers can add value to their services, creating immediate climate solutions for their customers.

Clean fuels’ value is proven with real science. Recycling carbon from the air rather than pulling it from deep underground prevents additional buildup that will last for centuries. Acting now prevents decades of warming.

Delaying action by five years requires reducing emissions 13 times more to have the same climate benefit. Switching to clean fuels now avoids unnecessary costs and environmental damage.

Veronica Bradley
Director, Environmental Science

Proven Benefits to Carbon Intensity

For biomass-based diesel fuels, lifecycle analysis (LCA) captures emissions from feedstock cultivation, processing, transportation and end use. The combined impact defines Carbon Intensity (CI), the single benchmark regulators and markets use to compare clean fuels with petroleum on an energy basis.

Standardized CI Frameworks Allow Companies to

 

  • Prove compliance and set measurable goals
  • Unlock incentives such as tax credits and carbon markets and
  • Demonstrate long-term environmental and economic value

2026 Sustainability Workshop

April 27-29 | Kansas City, Missouri

For sustainability directors and decision-makers, gaining insight into lifecycle analysis, carbon accounting and market-based mechanisms is critical. Our annual Sustainability Workshop in Kansas City offers an opportunity to dive deeper into these topics, shape the future of carbon intensity frameworks, and collaborate with peers driving the clean fuels transition.

For speaking inquiries or sponsorship opportunities, email Veronica Bradley at vbradley@cleanfuels.org.

 

Register Now

Sustainable Farming and Reduced Land Pressure

Clean fuels are produced using bio-based oils like soybean oil. Since a soybean is only about 20% oil, the remaining 80% protein and fiber that make up the meal remains for nutrition. That means every acre of soybeans planted can contribute to both fuel and food production.

U.S. farmers continue to meet the demand for both through added efficiencies and new technologies as they continue to increase crop yields without the need to expand cropland. A 45% increase in soybean yields since the 1990s generated an additional 15 billion pounds of soybean oil in 2025. That growth exceeded total U.S. biomass-based diesel demand in 2024, without requiring a single acre of new cropland.

The CI of clean fuels also improves with better land use practices. U.S. farmers have reduced greenhouse gas emissions from soybean farming by 43% over the last 30 years, improving the CI and environmental performance of soy-based fuel.

Other feedstocks also contribute to more sustainable practices by reducing waste. Distillers corn oil, a by-product of ethanol production, animal fats, and grease can also be used to produce clean fuels, maximizing resource efficiency and the environmental benefits of agriculture.