Mandating the future

Across North America, biodiesel mandates have become a key tool for governments seeking to cut greenhouse gas emissions, enhance energy security, and support rural economies.
These rules require a minimum share of biodiesel or renewable diesel to be blended into conventional diesel supplies, creating a guaranteed market for low-carbon fuels.
Yet, despite their apparent simplicity, biodiesel mandates sit at the intersection of complex debates over climate policy, feedstock sustainability, agricultural economics and energy transition strategy.
Their evolution in the United States, Canada and Mexico offers a snapshot of how different political and economic systems are attempting to decarbonise liquid fuels — and of the challenges they face in doing so.

A continental patchwork

In the United States, the centrepiece of biofuel regulation is the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which sets annual obligations for refiners and blenders to incorporate renewable fuels into the national fuel pool.
Within this framework, biomass-based diesel, a category that includes both biodiesel and renewable diesel, has grown...