Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Biofuel Feedstocks

On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the release of an interim rule on Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks. 

The interim rule establishes guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock commodity crops grown in the United States. These guidelines may inform the subsequent development of requirements for other programs which incentivize low-carbon biofuels.

USDA is requesting public comment on the interim rule to help inform future revisions or additions to the final rule. The interim rule will be posted for public inspection on January 16th at regulations.gov and will be published on January 17th.

Interim Rule Text

Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks (PDF, 1008 KB)

USDA Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator

The USDA Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator (USDA FD-CIC) (beta version) quantifies carbon intensities (CI), in greenhouse gas emissions per bushel, for three domestic feedstock crops: field corn, soybeans, and sorghum. The interim rule Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks includes USDA FD-CIC in Subpart C: Quantification of Farm-level Crop-specific Carbon Intensity.