Increasing Renewable Fuel Volumes included in US EPA's 2017 renewable volume final rule

Neste Corporation
Press Release
23 November 2016 at 11:45 pm (EET)

Increasing Renewable Fuel Volumes included in US EPA's 2017 renewable volume final rule

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US published the final ruling covering renewable fuel volume requirements for 2017 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program on 23 November 2016. The final rule calls for further increases in the volumes requirements above those in proposed rule published on 18 May 2016 and includes an increased volume requirement for biomass-based diesel for 2018.

The EPA ruling provides for increases across all types of biofuels. For 2017, the EPA sets volume requirements of 4.28bn gallons (up from 3.61bn gallons in 2016) for advanced biofuels and 19.28bn gallons (up from 18.11bn gallons in 2016) for all renewable fuels. In addition for 2018, the Agency sets the volume requirement for biomass-based diesel to 2.1bn gallons (up from 2.0bn gallons). The proposal is available on the EPA's website.

"We appreciate the EPA's commitment to increasing renewable fuel volume requirements. Determination and bold decisions are required to reduce carbon emissions and meet the ambitious targets set in the Paris Climate agreement," says Kaisa Hietala, Executive Vice President of Neste's Renewable Products business area.

"Neste Renewable Diesel is an ideal low-carbon fuel to meet the US renewable fuel standards, as it is fully compatible with existing diesel engines and fuel distribution systems. Neste is active in the US market and our renewable diesel has been very well received, especially in California," continues Hietala.

Neste Renewable Diesel meets the EPA requirements of an advanced biofuel in the biomass-based diesel category and is being used by US refiners, blenders, and fuel distributors to meet their renewable fuel requirements. Additionally, the fuel is being used by US cities such as San Diego, Carlsbad and San Francisco as well as corporations such as Google and UPS.

Neste Corporation

Osmo Kammonen
SVP, Communications and Brand Marketing

Neste in brief

Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates sustainable choices for the needs of transport, businesses and consumers. Our global range of products and services allows customers to lower their carbon footprint by combining high-quality renewable products and oil products to tailor-made service solutions. We are the world's largest producer of renewable diesel refined from waste and residues, and we are also bringing renewable solutions to the aviation and plastics industries. We want to be a reliable partner, whose expertise, R&D and sustainable practices are widely respected. In 2015, Neste's net sales stood at EUR 11 billion, and we were on the Global 100 list of the 100 most sustainable companies in the world. Read more: neste.com/en