AIM for Climate
Date: 2021-10-06
In Washington, the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) initiative to transform the global agricultural sector reports it has the support of 30 nations -- including Canada and the United States -- as well as the The UN Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom's COP26 Presidency, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. AIM for Climate will be officially launched at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, this November.

AIM for Climate is focused on dramatically increasing public and private investment for innovation in climate-smart agriculture and food systems.

The initiative was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden and UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate in April, this year.

AIM for Climate will focus on three main investment channels: scientific breakthroughs via basic agricultural research; public and private applied innovation and research for development; and the development and deployment of practical, actionable research and information. (Source: AIM, PR, 5 Oct., 2021) Contact: AIM for Climate, www.aimforclimate.org

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RFS Waivers
Date: 2020-09-18
Further to our 16 Sept. coverage, the Trump EPA denied 54 of the pending 99 small refinery exemption (SRE) requests from oil refiners to blend less ethanol under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). However, EPA still hasn't acted on 44 waivers, 14 of which are also gap-year waivers and 31 of which are for the 2019 and 2020 blending requirements.

In a blatant move to win support and placate the biofuels and refinery interests, Trump has suggested he'd provide $300 million to oil refiners and that those funds would come out of the USDA Commodity Credit Corp. (CCC) which is intended to provide farmers with Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments.

Commenting on Trump's possible cash payments to refiners scheme, former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he "strongly expects that no action will be taken on the remaining waivers until after the election." Vilsack was critical of the reports that the President indicated that he would offer $300 million through the CCC fund in lieu of the waiver approvals, as the CCC is designed specifically to be used by USDA for the purpose of helping farmers.

As previously noted, "hardship waivers" were intended for refineries producing 75,000 bpd or less and suffered "disproportionate economic hardship" from the costs of RFS compliance. The waiver frees the refineries from an obligation to provide the EPA with biofuels credits proving compliance. (Source: EPA, Feedstuffs, 17 Sept., 2020)

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Tom Vilsack
Date: 2020-05-01
"It (biofuels industry) is in very, very serious shape."

"It provides a stable market for crops, an affordable supply of feed supplements for livestock producers, it supports exports, provides jobs -- as many as 400,000 Americans at one time -- and gives consumers a less-expensive fuel option that is cleaner burning than fossil fuels." -- Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor and U.S. agriculture secretary, commenting on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the biofuels industry and the Trump administration's understanding of the benefits of the ethanol industry.

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