Biofuels and the Environment: Third Triennial Report to Congress (Final Report, 2025)

This report builds on the previous two reports, Biofuels and the Environment: First Triennial Report to Congress (2011) and Biofuels and the Environment: Second Triennial Report to Congress (2018). It reinforces the broad conclusions from the first two reports on biofuels in general and further evaluates the attribution of those effects to the RFS Program more specifically. The Third Report updates the previous assessments of the environmental impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standards Program and includes new analyses to better separate the effects of the RFS Program from the broader set of factors influencing of biofuels.

In the first two reports, EPA could not separate the effects of the RFS Program from the impact of other factors (e.g., market or other policy effects). The Third Report includes an “attribution analysis” that better separates the effects of the RFS Program from other factors that affect biofuels production and consumption in the United States.

The Third Report concludes that the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program varies with time and the RFS Program had a modest positive effect on biofuel production and consumption, and thus had a modest negative effect on the environment. These endpoints include air and water quality, water quantity, ecosystem health and biodiversity, soil quality, invasive species, and international impacts. The impacts of the RFS Program overlap with the more significant effects of biofuels as an industry.

Impact/Purpose

EISA Section 204 calls for EPA to report to Congress on the environmental and resource conservation impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard program, specifically air and water quality, water quantity, ecosystem health and biodiversity, soil quality, invasive species, and international impacts. This report is the third of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s reports to Congress required under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.

Citation

U.S. EPA. Biofuels and the Environment: Third Triennial Report to Congress (Final Report, 2025). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2025.

This document has been reviewed in accordance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

• Biofuels and the Environment: The Third Triennial Report to Congress (Final Report, 2025) (PDF)  (1039  pp, 47.0 MB, about PDF)
• EPA's Responses to the Peer Review Summary Report (PDF)  (307  pp, 6.8 MB, about PDF)

Related Link(s)

• Biofuels and the Environment: The Second Triennial Report to Congress (Final Report, 2018)
• Biofuels and the Environment: First Triennial Report to Congress (Final Report, 2011)