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Alverson: Corn deserves more ‘carbon reduction’ credit

A South Dakota farmer and ethanol industry leader says corn ethanol continues to be unfairly penalized in low carbon fuel markets.

Ron Alverson, president of the American Coalition for Ethanol board of directors, says current carbon intensity models for biofuels do not fully recognize the positive effect that corn has on soil organic matter.

“They need to account for that because corn has a dramatic effect on soil organic matter, and when they do account for that, it can reduce our lifecycle carbon score a lot—20, 30, 40 percent,” Alverson says. “So it’s a big number and it makes a lot of difference in the carbon intensity of the total corn ethanol lifecycle.”

Alverson says low carbon fuel market regulators, such as the U.S. EPA and the California Air Resources Board, have yet to acknowledge those improvements and update their models with the latest science.

“With more emphasis now on new low carbon fuel markets—and low carbon markets everywhere—we need to get the modeling right,” he says. “It’s just essential that we get this modeling as good as possible so we can incentivize the best crops to do that, to improve soil health and remove atmospheric carbons.

“It’s a big issue for us and we need to work diligently on that.”

Alverson points out that, since 2008, farming and ethanol plants have combined to reduce the overall carbon intensity of corn ethanol by more than 50 percent. He says continuing trends show that the carbon intensity of fossil fuels continues to climb as corn ethanol’s carbon intensity declines.

AUDIO: Ron Alverson