NGVAmerica, a national organization representing the natural-gas-in-transportation industry, has pledged that by 2030, 80% of natural gas vehicle on-road motor fuel in the United States will be derived from renewable sources.

NGVAmerica also pledged that number would rise to 100% by 2050.

Last year, renewable natural gas collected at local landfills, wastewater treatment plants, commercial food waste facilities, and agricultural digesters displaced conventional natural gas from fossil sources as the dominant on-road NGV fuel source nationwide, organization officials said in a press release. 

Moreover, the carbon intensity of RNG biofuel continues to drop. California fleets that fueled with bio-CNG in 2020 achieved carbon negativity for the year, with an annual average carbon intensity score of -5.845 gCO2e/MJ. The latest data (first quarter 2021) puts the carbon intensity of bio-CNG in California’s system at -16.57 gCO2e/MJ.

NGVAmerica’s pledge meets the aggressive climate solution response sought by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its recently released report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. The report calls for new focus on “short-lived air pollutants” such as recoverable methane emissions by capturing them at their source and repurposing them.

“NGVAmerica recognizes that climate change is real and immediate investment is needed to clean and decarbonize all transportation sectors,” said NGVAmerica President Dan Gage. “The RNG motor fuel solution addresses two very real climate change concerns by capturing a waste liability, turning it into a green energy asset, and then using the resultant biofuel to displace diesel, cleaning up and decarbonizing those sectors that are the dirtiest and hardest to abate.”

By establishing an aggressive timeline to transition to 100% carbon-free natural gas biofuel in the nation’s refueling system, NGVAmerica said, it can provide an affordable, scalable, and immediate solution to eliminate criteria pollutants that harm public health and drastically lower the carbon footprint of heavy-duty commercial fleets.

Commitments recently adopted by the NGVAmerica’s board include:

• Further accelerate the use of ultra-low to negative carbon natural gas in fleets and as part of the supply provided to  transportation customers, marking 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2050;

• Support the procurement of natural gas from energy production and distribution companies that undertake responsible best practices to effectively minimize fugitive methane emissions and flaring; and

• Support continued advancements in the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel by working with other stakeholders, including government authorities, to improve the efficiency of future natural gas engine technology and further control emissions from natural gas engines.