Abstract
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) is a critical component in California's policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation. Managed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the LCFS incentivizes low-carbon fuel production through a credit trading system that enforces declining annual carbon intensity (CI) targets for transportation fuels to reduce GHG emissions from the transportation sector. However, a steep decline in LCFS credit prices since late 2020 has reduced incentives for low-carbon fuel producers, raising concerns about the program's ability to sustain the pace of technological innovation necessary to meet state GHG reduction targets [1]. In response, CARB has initiated a rulemaking process to amend the LCFS, focusing on increasing CI targets and introducing an Automatic Acceleration Mechanism (AAM) that would respond to oversupply of credits in the market.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 2025 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability, SusTech 2025 |
| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. |
| Edition | 2025 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9798331504311 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2025 |
| Event | 12th IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability, SusTech 2025 - Los Angeles, United States Duration: Apr 20 2025 → Apr 23 2025 |
Conference
| Conference | 12th IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability, SusTech 2025 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Period | 04/20/25 → 04/23/25 |
Funding
This work was supported by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies STEPS+ Energy Futures program. The authors gratefully acknowledge Julie Witcover for her input into this study. Any misstatements, errors or omissions are solely the responsibility of the authors.
Keywords
- Low Carbon Fuel Standard
- alternative fuels
- carbon intensity
- carbon market
- renewable diesel
- transportation