Economic Benefits of a Clean Fuels Program
As oil and gasoline price volatility returns to the news and our daily lives, the time is now for Massachusetts to enact a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) to serve as a powerful policy engine for economic development in the Commonwealth.
The long-term policy certainty provided by a clean fuels program will allow for private capital to commit to building this new industry on the East Coast in our state. From billion-dollar biorefinery projects to the modernization of our electric grid, LCFS would bring thousands of specialized energy jobs for longshoremen, pipefitters, teamsters, and electrical workers.
Quick Facts:
How a market-based clean fuels program lowers costs for businesses, consumers, and workers.
Economic Development:
Companies invest and build for the long term. Short-term incentives, like the proposed Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) credit, are essential to jump start a new industry. Long-term policies, like a low-carbon fuel standard, are essential to enhance these types of short-term investments and to provide greater certainty for new investments.
Cleaner Fuels, Stable Prices:
MA doesn’t have to choose between cleaner transportation and keeping costs down. A low-carbon fuel standard is a proven policy that incentivizes the replacement of polluting fuels with cleaner alternatives without driving up fuel prices.
Infrastructure Investment:
Low-carbon fuel standards create a powerful incentive for companies to invest in the Commonwealth to deliver cleaner fuels, from waste and renewable sources to electricity that can be used in existing and future vehicles.
Workforce Development:
Creating a market for alternative fuels in our state gives innovators the certainty they need to invest here. This investment supports a cascading effect for local economies through specialized trade jobs and direct plant employment as a new industry launches in the Commonwealth.
Needed focus on Environmental Justice (EJ) Communities:
A low-carbon fuel standard would reduce particulate emissions and pollution across the Commonwealth, while dedicating a significant portion of the revenue generated from the program to disadvantaged communities across Massachusetts. Switching to SAF alone would improve air quality in the EJ communities around our airports.
Real Results:
No Taxpayer Funding Needed
LCFS can generate revenue for the public sector.
MA needs concrete policies to finally make progress toward our climate goals. A low-carbon fuel standard is the most effective policy for the transportation sector, and doesn't use state funds to drive progress. In a Clean Fuels Program, electricity is recognized as a low-carbon fuel.
Public entities that operate electric transit or charging infrastructure earn credits for every kilowatt-hour used. So for many transit agencies, the revenue from selling LCFS credits reduces the cost of electricity to $0 or turns the “fuel” into a profit center. Municipalities use credit revenue to build public electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs and depot upgrades, meaning these improvements are funded by the private carbon market rather than local property or sales taxes.
Caltrain:
In California, Caltrain is leveraging LCFS credits to help fund its 82-mile track electrification. By switching from diesel trains to electric, they generate significant credits that are sold to generate recurring revenue for capital needs and operations.
TriMet & Lane Transit:
In Oregon, these transit agencies earn credits for every kilowatt-hour used by their electric bus fleets. These credits are sold to offset the higher upfront costs of electric buses compared to diesel models.
Portland General Electric (PGE):
In Oregon, using revenue from the sale of clean fuel credits, PGE created a grant fund that has awarded millions of dollars to local public entities for electric school buses, transit buses, and public charging hubs.