Researchers develop policy strategies to boost biofuel use for decarbonization

In Michigan, as global carbon emissions continue to hit all-time highs, strategies for achieving net-zero emissions have only become more important. Specifically, bioenergy has an important role in displacing fossil fuels and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Therefore, a team of economists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,  the University of California-Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Agriculture including Michigan State University came together to propose a groundbreaking “climate-smart” biofuel policy that could revolutionize the agricultural sector’s role in mitigating climate change and improving ecosystems services.

The policy, informed by a recent study published in Science, aims to promote low-carbon biofuels for transportation and aviation, among other industries.

The study highlights how farm-specific carbon intensity, or CI, scores can incentivize climate-smart agricultural practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance soil carbon sequestration. 

The policy would leverage existing biofuel markets, such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, or LCFS, to provide financial incentives for farmers. Unlike traditional conservation programs, which are limited by budgets, this market-driven approach would scale based on policy targets. Farmers would benefit from premium prices for low-carbon feedstocks, while biorefineries could reduce their supply-chain emissions. 

Key components of the proposed policy include farm-specific carbon footprints, which incorporate soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions into biofuel CI calculations. Using multimodel ensembles, or MMEs, recently developed by Basso et al., 2025, soil carbon changes, greenhouse gas emission of climate-smart practices could be more easily and accurately assessed.

The policy also proposes long-term contracts between farmers and biorefineries to ensure sustained adoption of climate-smart practices and cost-effective systems like mass-balance or book-and-claim approaches to trace CI reductions.

The researchers acknowledge challenges, such as the reversibility of soil carbon sequestration and potential off-farm emissions leakage. However, they emphasize that even temporary carbon storage has climate benefits and that advancements in digital technology, predictive modeling and policy design can address these issues.