Full Title: Clean Fuel Standards: The Market-Based Policy for States Looking to Clean Up Transportation
Author(s): Jane Sadler, Kayleigh Rubin, and Nathan Iyer
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: March 18, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Federal leadership transitions often bring significant changes to energy policy, which can create market and policy uncertainty for businesses, organizations, and state governments — and the shift from the past administration to the current one is no exception. During this time of evolving federal priorities, many states seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants have had to navigate a complex regulatory landscape. To ease this navigation, states can look toward bipartisan, cost-effective policies that do not rely on federal assistance or approval for implementation.
In this complex environment, clean fuel standard policies (also called low-carbon fuel standards, clean transportation fuel programs, and other names) can be a powerful policy tool, offering flexibility for states to reduce carbon and air pollution across diverse transportation sectors using simple market dynamics. This customizable approach allows states to design emissions reduction strategies that align with their unique economic and environmental landscapes, reward innovation, and funnel resources to state priorities.
States that have clean fuel standards policies have reported numerous benefits including cleaner air, reduced carbon pollution, greater investment and research into clean fuels, and economic development and job growth.
This article outlines key considerations in the design of clean fuel standards and includes a new RMI clean fuel standard calculator tool that quantifies the potential impact a clean fuel standard might have in the contiguous United States.