Washington, DC – Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica) and Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) today announced that 53 percent of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in calendar year 2020 was renewable natural gas (RNG).
Captured above ground from organic material in agricultural, wastewater, landfill, or food waste, RNG can produce carbon-negative results when fueling on-road vehicles like short- and long-haul trucks, transit buses, and refuse and recycling collection vehicles. The California Air Resources Board’s Q3 2020 data confirms that the energy weighted carbon intensity (CI) value of California’s RNG vehicle fuel portfolio in its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program is carbon negative and below zero at -17.95 gCO2e/MJ.1
RNG use as a transportation fuel grew 25 percent over 2019 volumes, increasing 267 percent over the last five years. NGVAmerica and RNG Coalition report that in 2020 a total of 646 million gallons (GGE)2 of natural gas were used as motor fuel. Of that, 345 million gallons (GGE) were from renewable sources.3
“If we are going to have a meaningful and immediate impact on climate change and clean our urban air, we need cleaner trucks and buses on our roadways now. We can’t wait,” said Dan Gage, President of NGVAmerica. “RNG-fueled vehicles are the most immediate and cost-effective heavy-duty option when seeking to combat climate change and clear our air. Renewable Natural Gas fueled vehicles provide a proven and scalable net carbon negative / zero emission equivalent solution for commercial deployment today.”
“Renewable Natural Gas supply is growing,” said Johannes Escudero, CEO of Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas. “With 157 RNG production facilities transforming waste into fuel, and another 155 facilities on the way, we are increasingly able to affordably offer consumers the opportunity to decarbonize with RNG – the cleanest of any fuel available today.”
1 California Air Resources Board, Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program, Certified Fuel Pathways. Available at: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/lcfs-pathway-certified-carbon-intensities. 2 GGE = gasoline gallon equivalent. 3 Total Natural Gas in Transportation Figure derived from U.S. EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook (2021) and RNG numbers derived from U.S. EPA Renewable Fuel Standard Program reporting with adjustments made based on fueler member reporting.
RNG use as a motor fuel in 2020 displaced 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Put into perspective, RNG motor fuel use last year:4
• Lowered greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to removing the GHG from nearly 8.8 billion miles driven by the average passenger car;
• Eliminated CO2 emissions, equivalent to removing CO2 emissions from 394 million gallons of gasoline consumed or 425.8 billion individual smartphones charged; and
• Sequestered carbon, equal to growing close to 58 million tree seedlings for ten years, or 4.3 million acres of U.S. forests for one year.
Details of today’s report – including graphics – can be accessed at: NGVAmerica’s website here and RNG Coalition’s website here.