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05/27/26 6:04 AM By Kim Chipman
- Nascent U.S. marine biofuel sector is focused on dominating the global market.
- Trump is said to remain opposed to UN maritime plan despite biofuel industry’s enthusiasm.
- Pulling marine fuel into the RFS is crucial to spurring incentive, groups say.
With a UN-led gathering to hash out a global shipping emissions strategy just six months away, nations remain as deadlocked as they were a year ago, when disputes previously delayed the talks.
“Consensus continues to remain elusive while the member states debate how to best address the concerns raised by the U.S. and others on the Net-Zero Framework,” Edward Hubbard, Renewable Fuels Association general counsel and vice president of government affairs, said last week at a National Maritime Week event in Washington.
Postponement last October on a vote of the International Maritime Organization’s NZF plan followed President Donald Trump’s objection to the proposed cap-and-trade-type system, which he’s called a “global carbon tax.” Yet groups like RFA, a U.S. ethanol trade group, and companies including Roeslein & Associates, have said IMO’s plan could be a gamechanger for biofuels.
“Something is going to happen in the world with or without the United States participating globally,” Ben Kruger, chief operating officer for Roeslein Renewables, said at a May 21 talk with U.S. maritime biofuel stakeholders. The U.S. could end up freezing itself out of a worldwide maritime fuel market that American farmers need.
“We’ve got demand challenges on the export front,” Kruger said, citing increasing competition with Brazil for China’s ag business, as well as GLP-1 weight-loss drugs that are destroying demand in the food sector.
Maritime fuel possibilities include corn-based ethanol, soybean oil-heavy renewable diesel and biodiesel and a liquified form of renewable natural gas, known as bioLNG and produced from manure or landfill gas.
Roeslein, based in St. Louis, designs, builds and operates RNG facilities.
RFA CEO Geoff Cooper has said if the ethanol industry captured even just 5% of the maritime fuel market, producers could see as much as 5 billion gallons of additional demand, while U.S. farmers could benefit from at least 1.5 billion extra bushels of corn.
Trump administration still opposing NZF framework
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee met in London a few weeks ago with a goal of fostering agreement on a way forward with a worldwide shipping emission strategy. The panel agreed to set up a working group to tackle countries’ concerns ahead of an expected Dec. 4 session in London. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez declared the NZF talks “back on track, but we have to rebuild trust.”
“Some delegations advocated for moving forward with the Net-Zero Framework as it originally stood, while others were in favor of amendments, and still others were in favor of exploring alternative policy options,” Hubbard said.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration “continues to maintain its opposition to the Net-Zero Framework,” Hubbard said.
The White House and State Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last December, RFA and the American Biogas Council announced the creation of the American Biofuels Maritime Initiative, which is meant to work with the Trump administration and Congress to establish policies to speed up use of American-made energy and biofuels in the global maritime industry. The ultimate objective is to secure U.S. dominance in international maritime shipping.
As far as domestic feedstock for the nascent market, National Oilseed Processors Association CEO Devin Mogler points out that the multi-billion-dollar expansion of the U.S. soy industry over the last five years, driven by a renewable diesel boom, is in a good position to fuel ships.
“If you look at that breakdown of where the soybeans were going just a few years ago, over 60% were being exported – now it’s only 40%. That’s because of the investment in domestic crush here,” Mogler said. “Just over the past three years, we had a dozen new plants come online, boosting [processing] capacity over 20%.”
A crucial incentive is the biomass-based diesel credits under the Renewable Fuel Standard, known as the D4 RIN, which is tied to soy oil prices and driving the domestic expansion of soybean crush capacity.
Both Mogler and David Cobb, director of federal affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance America, stress the need to add marine fuel producers and blenders into the 21-year-old RFS program.
“If you allow them to get that credit, then it will really provide that incentive to pull those gallons in the marketplace,” Mogler said.