USDA Takes a Fresh Look at Ethanol’s Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Today, the USDA released a newly completed report reexamining the lifecycle greenhouse gas impact of corn ethanol. Where prior studies have relied on modeling and projections (often driven by assumptions) about these impacts, USDA’s new report reviewed hard data on farming and biorefinery performance over the past decade. The bottom line from USDA is that as of 2014, corn ethanol reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent in comparison to the 2005 lifecycle baseline for gasoline. USDA