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Community Benefits Snapshot: Tallgrass-Bold Alliance CO2 Pipeline Community Benefits Agreement
The document details a legally binding community benefits agreement (CBA) for the $1.5 billion Trailblazer CO2 pipeline project. Tallgrass is converting a 392-mile pipeline to transport CO2 from Nebraska ethanol plants to sequestration sites in Wyoming. The CBA, negotiated with Bold Alliance and endorsed by 11 Nebraska organizations, provides specific landowner protections, public safety funding, and community investments to mitigate local opposition and ensure project viability.
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Document type: Case study
EU ETS revenues from polluters to the people
A joint letter from various organisations calling for a 'people first' approach to EU ETS revenues, recommending stricter earmarking rules to prevent fossil fuel lock-in, the phase-out of free allowances for polluters, and the expansion of the Social Climate Fund to protect vulnerable citizens from ETS2 costs.
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Document type: Statement
The Next Chapter for US Green Industrial Strategy
The briefing outlines a three-part agenda for the next US administration to maintain the momentum of its green industrial strategy. It emphasizes the need to bridge the gap between initial investment and long-term economic stability by streamlining permitting, diversifying supply chains to reduce reliance on China, and ensuring that clean energy benefits reach low-income and legacy industrial communities. The author advocates for a 'private-sector-led, government-enabled' framework supported by strategic governance mechanisms to ensure the US remains a global leader in cleantech innovation and manufacturing.
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Document type: Briefing
Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector
The document assesses the effectiveness of the EU ETS and CORSIA in addressing aviation emissions, finding that both schemes fail to cover non-CO2 effects and that CORSIA's reliance on low-quality offsets and a high baseline limits its climate impact. It recommends extending the EU ETS to all flights departing from the European Economic Area (EEA) by 2027.
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Document type: Policy brief
The EU's and ICAO's diverging ambitions to reduce aviation's climate impacts
The report finds a substantial divergence in ambition between the EU ETS and CORSIA. While the EU ETS is moving toward 100% auctioning of allowances by 2026 and high carbon prices, CORSIA relies on offsetting emissions above a baseline, resulting in significantly lower emissions coverage and a much weaker price signal. The EU may expand the EU ETS to extra-EEA flights by 2027 if CORSIA is deemed insufficient to meet climate goals.
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Document type: Report
Brazil Climate and Ecological Transformation Investment Platform (BIP) - Strengthening Brazil’s climate finance and transition capacities
The proposal seeks USD 999,998.93 to create a centralized Secretariat for the Brazil Climate and Ecological Transformation Investment Platform (BIP), hosted by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). The BIP aims to bridge the gap between climate-positive projects and investors to help Brazil meet its NDC target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 53.1% by 2030. The project focuses on three priority areas: Nature-based Climate Solutions, Industry and Mobility, and Energy. Key activities include developing a project pipeline, creating innovative financial mechanisms, and establishing ICT infrastructure to facilitate public-private collaboration.
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Document type: Report
The Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Opportunity: Accelerating the Transition of the Oil and Gas Sector
The document outlines how the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program, part of the US Department of Energy's Title XVII authority, provides low-cost, long-tenor debt financing to help oil and gas companies repurpose ceased operations or reduce emissions from active infrastructure. It details specific transition opportunities across the upstream, midstream, and downstream value chains, such as lithium extraction from brine, enhanced geothermal systems, and the conversion of refineries to sustainable aviation fuel production. The brief emphasizes that the current high-interest rate environment makes this government financing particularly attractive, though the opportunity is time-constrained as loan authority currently expires in September 2026.
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Document type: Briefing
Demand Aggregation 101
Demand aggregation consolidates fragmented demand from multiple buyers into a single, larger signal to help suppliers overcome the high costs and risks associated with building low-emissions infrastructure. This process helps bridge the "green premium"—the price difference between conventional and low-emissions alternatives—by providing financiers with predictable, long-term cash flows through collective procurement and advance purchasing agreements. The document highlights the use of "book and claim" mechanisms to allow indirect procurement of environmental attributes when direct physical procurement is not possible. RMI and its partners are implementing this strategy through four specific initiatives: the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), the Zero Emissions Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform (SSBP), and a phased approach for low-emissions cement and concrete.
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Document type: Guide
Unraveling Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
A survey of 23 companies by RMI and the Mission Possible Partnership reveals that airlines and corporate customers are willing to pay a significant green premium for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and SAF certificates (SAFc). Airlines showed an average WTP of $6 per gallon, while corporate buyers averaged $300 per ton of CO2 abated. The study finds a preference for waste-based feedstocks and shorter contract durations. These findings suggest that SAF projects, particularly those using the HEFA pathway, could be bankable today by meeting the financial returns required by investors.
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Document type: Report
Business call to action for ambitious and investible NDCs
The We Mean Business Coalition argues that for NDCs to be 'investible', they must move beyond ambitious targets to include concrete implementation policies. The document proposes a three-pillar approach: setting ambitious economy-wide and sector-specific targets, developing consistent national and international policy frameworks, and establishing transparent dialogue between governments and businesses. It highlights that while renewable energy and electric vehicle adoption are accelerating, sectors like heavy industry and aviation require more targeted government intervention to overcome investment barriers. The report provides illustrative examples of successful policy-driven investments in India, Brazil, Sweden, the EU, and the US.
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Document type: Report
HYDROGEN POLICY’S NARROW PATH
The report categorizes hydrogen applications into 'high-value' (primarily chemical feedstocks) and 'low-value' (primarily energy provision), arguing that the latter are often outcompeted by direct electrification. It warns that without strict guardrails on production, electrolytic hydrogen could increase net greenhouse gas emissions. The author recommends focusing infrastructure on tight industrial clusters and utilizing demand-side policies like advance market commitments and contracts for difference to scale high-value uses while minimizing risks in low-value sectors.
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Document type: Report
Statutory overview of 45Z
The document explains the calculation mechanism of the Section 45Z tax credit, which awards credits based on a fuel's carbon intensity, and lists several policy recommendations to prevent market distortions and ensure environmental integrity.
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Document type: Briefing
If Treasury uses GREET to model SAF lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, it must modify it to be both similar to CORSIA and to fully account for indirect land use changes
The Clean Air Task Force asserts that the 40BSAF-GREET model used by the US Treasury fails to meet statutory requirements for section 45Z because its indirect land use change (ILUC) values are significantly lower than those in the CORSIA and EPA RFS frameworks. The author calls for updated ILUC numbers to comply with the Clean Air Act.
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Document type: Statement
Decarbonizing U.S. transportation: Progress and opportunities
The U.S. transportation sector, responsible for nearly one third of national greenhouse gas emissions, is undergoing decarbonization through a combination of federal strategies, such as the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, and significant funding from the IIJA and Inflation Reduction Act. While progress is evident in the buildout of EV and hydrogen corridors and the growth of clean energy manufacturing jobs, the document argues that the U.S. is not yet on track to meet its goal of cutting all transportation greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Regional efforts are concentrated in the West Coast (hydrogen and EV corridors), Midwest (battery manufacturing and freight networks), Gulf Coast (low-emissions shipping and hydrogen trucking), and East Coast (EV manufacturing and I-95 freight corridors). To accelerate progress, the document recommends a federal clean fuel standard, improved inter-agency coordination, and stronger community engagement.
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Document type: Briefing
Carbon intensity of vegetable-based oils must full account for cross-market substitution effects
The Clean Air Task Force asserts that diverting vegetable oils to the energy sector can create supply gaps filled by carbon-intensive palm oil, effectively bypassing the intent of section 45Z. It highlights that while palm oil is excluded from 45Z credits due to high lifecycle assessments—with CORSIA citing 76.5 to 99.1 g CO2e/MJ—its role as the cheapest global backfill for oils like soy oil can drive overall palm oil consumption. The document notes that Congress already banned palm fatty acid distillates (PFADs) for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to address these substitution impacts and urges the Treasury to apply similar rigor to all vegetable oil-based fuel carbon intensity calculations.
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Document type: Statement
Climate Smart Agriculture practices should be differentiated based on the measurability of their impact on the carbon intensity of fuels
The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) advises the US Treasury to distinguish between different Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices when calculating carbon intensity (CI) scores under section 45Z. CATF argues that no-till farming and planting cover crops should not be credited because their effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) are difficult to measure empirically, take years to occur, and are reversible. In contrast, the use of enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizer may remain creditable as its emissions reductions occur within a single growing season and are more easily quantified. Additionally, CATF asserts that section 45Z does not permit SOC offsets because the required methodology, such as CORSIA, does not credit SOC improvements due to permanence concerns. The document suggests that harvesting cover crops for permanent underground sequestration should be treated as a separate, potentially creditable practice if robust verification is in place.
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Document type: Statement
UK’s climate future: Progress needed across sectors as 2030 targets loom
The UK has met previous emissions targets primarily through the energy supply sector, but currently lacks credible plans for two-thirds of the reductions needed to reach its 2030 target of a 68% reduction compared to 1990 levels. To address this, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) emphasizes that over 75% of future reductions must come from non-energy sectors, specifically transport, buildings, agriculture, and land. Key recommendations include accelerating the scale-up of methane-suppressing feed, deploying 5 MtCO2 of engineered greenhouse gas removals annually by 2030, and prioritizing low-carbon hydrogen for industrial use-cases like steel and ammonia production rather than home heating. In aviation, while a SAF mandate is planned for 2025 to reach a 10% target by 2030, the brief warns against overreliance on SAF due to feedstock constraints and suggests exploring e-fuels and hydrogen. Nuclear energy is identified as a long-term necessity, requiring a shift toward standardised products to reduce costs.
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Document type: Policy brief
THE SECOND HALF OF THE DECISIVE DECADE
The report compares a pathway aligned with U.S. climate commitments against the energy and climate provisions of Project 2025. It finds that Continued Climate Leadership would lead to significant emissions reductions, job growth, and public health improvements, while Project 2025 would increase emissions, reduce GDP, and cause additional premature deaths.
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Document type: Research paper
COMMENTS OF CLEAN AIR TASK FORCE
The document argues that Section 45Z should prioritize low-carbon aviation fuels and avoid over-subsidizing biofuels with high indirect emissions. It recommends modifying the GREET model to align with CORSIA standards for indirect land use change (ILUC) and cautions against using negative emissions values or fugitive methane from oil and gas as feedstocks. Additionally, it advocates for the eligibility of synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and the independent application of tax credits across the fuel value chain.
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Document type: Statement
Red lines for climate-related advertising
The letter, sent by ClientEarth, Fossielvrij NL, and Reclame Fossielvrij to airlines at Amsterdam Schiphol, details the legal boundaries for climate-related advertising following a court ruling that KLM's claims about 'sustainable' flying and CO2 compensation were misleading. It argues that aviation growth is incompatible with the Paris Agreement and warns that the industry's 'licence to grow' communication strategy likely violates the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD).
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Document type: Statement