On behalf of the U.S. ethanol industry, we appreciate the opportunity to comment on ANP’s
Technical Note 298 2025, Proposal to Update Penalty Factors in RenovaCalc.
The U.S. Grains & Bioproducts Council (USGBC), Growth Energy, and the Renewable Fuels
Association (RFA), representing the U.S. ethanol industry and collectively accounting for over
90% of national ethanol production capacity, respectfully submit these comments on the
proposed regulation.
We appreciate the steps undertaken by ANP, Embrapa, and the RenovaBio Technical Group to
update and refine the penalty factors in RenovaCalc. We were glad to see a reduction to the
penalty factor for U.S. corn and new efforts to include U.S. sorghum in the RenovaCalc.
While we appreciate the significant interest in developing an improved regulatory framework
of the program, we would like some additional clarification on the methodology, process, and
decision factors. Specifically, we would like some clarification on how the national standard was
derived for the United States, including what steps were taken to ensure consistency between
GREET and Brazilian data and how this utilized data by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA).
The proposal looks to apply regional values for Brazilian states however this is not done for
imported ethanol, particularly from various production areas in the United States. We would
also like additional clarification on why there is no regional/state-level data provided as an
option for the United States, as available data exists from USDA.
Additionally, we are concerned about the fact that in the regional analysis for corn the penalty
factor for Mato Grosso is considered safe even with 7% of the regional producers are above it.
We kindly ask for clarification on this point.
As we have stated, the U.S. and Brazilian agricultural sectors, farmer management, feedstock
production, ownership, and the relationship between the farmer and the biorefinery vary
considerably between countries. We continue to seek a fair opportunity for U.S. ethanol to
participate in RenvoaBio, including further reductions to the penalty factors for U.S. ethanol
using default values. We welcome an opportunity to work with you to explore the possibility of
having similar regional, state-level values to be utilized for imported ethanol to more accurately
adjust the penalty factor for U.S. ethanol.
We have appreciated the steps already undertaken by ANP to assist U.S. producer participation
in RenovaBio, including mass balance and the protection of confidential business information.
We await the review of the final Technical Report and results of the previous Technical Report
comment periods from ANP. These will complement the Resolution, where we are hopeful
ANP will accept the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s use of “aggregate
compliance” designation for foreign feedstock eligibility of U.S. ethanol.
Since the implementation of RenovaBio, the U.S. ethanol industry is eager to actively and
meaningfully participate in the program. We look forward to building avenues with the
Brazilian entities to contribute to the program and generate carbon reduction credits, or CBios