Driving Sustainability\nin the United States: Efficacy\nof State-Level Biodiesel Policy Approaches

The United States has significant greenhouse gas and\ncriteria pollutant\nemissions that lead to global warming, human health, ozone, and smog\nissues, partially attributed to its diesel-consuming transport fleet.\nUntil fleet electrification reaches cost parity with internal combustion\nengines, biodiesel use can reduce these negative impacts. In this\nstudy, we analyzed and categorized the biodiesel-supporting policies\nof each U.S. state using manual inductive coding to compare them against\nstate-level biodiesel consumption and production. Through statistical\nmodeling, we determined the efficacy of these policy approaches. The\npolicy analysis identified that biodiesel policies that support infrastructure\ndevelopment and biodiesel production correlate significantly with\nincreased biodiesel consumption at the state level. We also show that\na combination of these policy categories correlates significantly\nwith overall higher biodiesel consumption. Our methodological approach\nand policy analysis findings reveal valuable insight into the efficacy\nand outcomes from existing biofuel policies in the United States.