Australian Biofuel Producers Alliance
Producers of Australian ethanol and biodiesel
Latest: Alliance submission lodged on the cleaner fuels demand mechanism, 15 September 2026. Read the update →
Ethanol and biodiesel producers · Commonwealth advocacy
Fuel security you can measure in litres.
The Australian Biofuel Producers Alliance brings together the companies that actually make ethanol and biodiesel in Australia. We have one purpose: to make sure the Commonwealth’s low carbon liquid fuel demand mechanism increases the volume of Australian-made ethanol and biodiesel produced here and physically used on Australian roads.
Australian agriculture powering Australian transport.
A focused producer coalition
Membership is limited to producers and suppliers of Australian ethanol and biodiesel.
Ethanol and biodiesel carry equal weight in every position we take.
One spokesperson, one set of messages, moved at the speed the policy cycle demands.
A steering committee of member representatives, an Executive Director, and no overheads beyond that.
Why this matters
Australia imports most of its fuel while the plants that could replace some of it sit idle.
80–90 %
of Australia’s fuel supply is now imported.
NRMA, 2026
2
oil refineries still operate, down from eight in 2005.
NRMA, 2026
470 ML
of ethanol and biodiesel capacity is already built on the east coast, equal to about 11 days of national petrol use.
Industry submissions
17 days
of diesel held in reserve stockholding at 27 March 2026.
NRMA, 2026
Every litre of Australian ethanol and biodiesel blended into domestic fuel is a litre that does not have to arrive by ship. The capacity exists. What is missing is a demand signal strong enough to fill it. See the key facts for the full figures and sources.
Grain feedstock
Oilseed feedstock
Domestic production
International experience
Blending obligations are the global norm, not the exception.
60+
countries operate biofuel blending obligations for road transport, covering more than 80 per cent of global fuel demand. Australia has no Commonwealth obligation.
At the end of 2022, 56 countries and 30 sub-national jurisdictions had mandates in force. Every comparable agricultural economy has chosen a volumetric obligation as the instrument that moves litres.
Lighter segment shows the upper end where a market sets a range. Full detail, with notes, in the table below.
Road transport blending obligations, selected markets
Market
Ethanol
Biodiesel
Note
Brazil
E30
B15
Both raised 1 August 2025
Paraguay
E25
B2–B5
—
India
E20
B5
E20 reached 2025, five years early
Indonesia
—
B40
In force since 2025
Colombia
E10
B13
—
Thailand
E10–E20
B7–B10
E85 also available
Argentina
E12
B7.5
—
European Union
E10
B7
Common grades under RED III
Canada
~E10
B4–B5
Plus Clean Fuel Regulations
Philippines
E10
B3
B5 flagged
Australia
Nil
Nil
No Commonwealth obligation
State obligations apply in New South Wales and Queensland. See key facts for detail and sources.
The test we apply to the demand mechanism
Does it immediately increase the volume of Australian ethanol and biodiesel produced and physically used, measured in litres rather than in modelled abatement or tradeable certificates?
Our position
Five things the demand mechanism must do
The Commonwealth has proposed a two-phase design: volumetric obligations in Phase 1, moving to a carbon intensity standard in Phase 2. Our asks follow that sequence.
01
Keep petrol as an obligation fuel
Both phases
Excluding petrol would strand the only ethanol capacity Australia has. Petrol is where domestic ethanol reaches the market today, at scale, through infrastructure that is already in the ground.
02
Commence Phase 1 in mid-2027
Phase 1
Producers need a start date they can commit capital against. A volumetric obligation commencing mid-2027 gives refiners, importers and producers a clear runway without waiting on the carbon accounting that Phase 2 requires.
03
Deliver a national E10 and B5 outcome by the end of Phase 1
Phase 1
A national outcome of 10 per cent ethanol in petrol and 5 per cent biodiesel in diesel is achievable with existing and committed capacity. It is the volumetric result Phase 1 should be designed to reach.
04
Carry that outcome into Phase 2 as a floor
Phase 2
When the mechanism moves to carbon intensity, the E10 and B5 volumetric outcome should sit beneath the benchmark as a floor. Without it, a carbon intensity standard can be met on paper while domestic production goes backwards.
05
Keep road transport as the anchor market
Both phases
Aviation matters, and alcohol-to-jet has a future. But ringfencing existing and future Australian ethanol production for jet fuel would remove the market that underwrites the plants, the feedstock contracts and the regional jobs. Road transport must remain the anchor.
How the transition should run
September 2026
Consultation closes
Alliance submission lodged on behalf of Australia’s operating ethanol and biodiesel producers.
Mid-2027
Phase 1 begins
A volumetric obligation on refiners and importers, with petrol kept as an obligation fuel.
End of Phase 1
National E10 and B5
The outcome the Alliance is asking the Commonwealth to set for the end of Phase 1.
Phase 2
Carbon intensity standard
The E10 and B5 outcome carries forward as a floor beneath the benchmark.
Who the obligation should fall on
Refiners and importers, using the definitions already established for the Minimum Stockholding Obligation. Those definitions are settled, understood by the entities they cover, and avoid building a new compliance perimeter from scratch.