Renewable Fuel Standard Program

Renewable Fuel Annual Standards

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set the RFS volume requirements annually. The annual standards are based on the statutory targets. EISA requires EPA to evaluate and in some cases adjust the standards.

EPA establishes the standards through a notice-and-comment rulemaking process with opportunity for public comment and stakeholder engagement.

The Clean Air Act requires the standards be finalized by November 30th of the year preceding the compliance year.
For the cellulosic standard, EPA sets cellulosic standard based on EIA projections, EPA’s own market assessment, and on information obtained from the notice and comment process.
For the biomass-based diesel standard, EPA must determine the applicable volume of biomass-based diesel at least 14 months prior to the year in which the volume will be required.

EISA’s four renewable fuel standards are nested within each other. This means, the fuel with a higher GHG reduction threshold can be used to meet the standards for a lower GHG reduction threshold. For example, fuels or RINs for advanced biofuel (i.e., cellulosic, biodiesel or sugarcane ethanol) can be used to meet the total renewable fuel standards (i.e., corn ethanol).

This diagram explains the nesting scheme for the four D-codes within RFS: Conventional renewable fuel (D6), Advanced biofuel (D5), Cellulosic biofuel (D3), and Biomass-based diesel (D4).

The table below provides the annual volume standards that have been finalized for 2010 to 2020 (and the final biomass-based diesel volume for 2021).

Annual Volume Standards¹
Biofuel Category	2010 Final	2011 Final	2012 Final	2013 Final	2014 Final	2015 Final	2016 Final	2017 Final	2018 Final	2019 Final	2020 Statutory	2020 Final	2021 Final
Cellulosic biofuel	6.5	0.0²	0.0²	0.8³	33	123	230	311	288	418	10,500	590	N/A
Biomass-based diesel	1.15	0.8	1.0	1.28	1.63	1.73	1.9	2.0	2.1	2.1	≥1.0	2.43⁴	2.43⁴
Advanced biofuel	0.95	1.35	2.0	2.75	2.67	2.88	3.61	4.28	4.29	4.92	15.00	5.09	N/A
Total renewable fuel	12.95	13.95	15.2	16.55	16.28	16.93	18.11	19.28	19.29	19.92	30.00	20.09	N/A
Notes: (1) All volumes are in billions of gallons, except cellulosic biofuel which is in millions of gallons. All volumes are ethanol-equivalent, except biomass-based diesel which is in gallons of biodiesel. (2) In a January 2013 decision, the D.C. Circuit Court vacated the 2012 cellulosic standard; the 2011 standard was also reset to 0.0, as the same methodology was used for both 2011 and 2012. (3) EPA reduced the 2013 cellulosic standard via Direct Final Rule (79 FR 25025, May 2, 2014). (4) The biomass-based diesel standard for 2020 was set at 2.43 billion gallons in the RFS 2019 Final Rule (83 FR 63704, December 11, 2018).

Learn more about RFS regulations and volume standards.