Sacramento, CA – Ahead of the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) anticipated approval of proposed amendments to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) this Friday, the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance (CFCA) is urgently warning that these changes will drive up fuel costs and reduce supply—without delivering any meaningful climate benefits for California consumers. 

"CARB’s LCFS amendments are a double whammy for vulnerable communities,” said CFCA chief executive officer Elizabeth Graham. “First of all, by capping biofuels, the LCFS amendments incentivize the use of more petroleum fuel, setting us back in the significant progress we have made in emissions reductions. And at the same time, this approach will increase the price of gasoline, which is felt hardest by disadvantaged Californians, who are already struggling with the state’s affordability crisis. It just doesn’t make sense."

CFCA calls on CARB to consider a more balanced and flexible strategy that will actually move California closer to achieving its climate goals by driving innovation and competition while protecting California's most vulnerable consumers from price hikes and supply shortages.

CARB is poised to approve a drastic acceleration of carbon intensity reduction targets to 22% by 2025, imposing a steep and potentially insurmountable technological hurdle. Many required technologies, such as next-generation biofuels and carbon capture systems, are still in the early stages of development, and California’s infrastructure is far from ready for such an abrupt shift. This move will almost certainly drive up fuel costs and disrupt supply, disproportionately impacting low-income communities across the state who will bear the heaviest burden of these misguided changes.

Additionally, imposing a 20% cap on credits for biomass-based diesel from feedstocks like virgin soybean, sunflower and canola oils would severely distort the biofuels market. This cap will likely further drive-up costs, limit competition and stifle innovation – ultimately slashing the availability of cost-effective, lower-carbon fuel options for Californians.

CFCA is also deeply troubled by CARB’s plan to exclude hydrogen produced from fossil fuels from credit eligibility starting in 2035. This exclusion threatens to destabilize hydrogen supply chains, driving up costs and hindering progress in California’s clean energy transition.