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 →
Submissions
What we have put to government
The Alliance lodges submissions in its own name on behalf of its producer members. Members also lodge their own responses. Our role is to reinforce and broaden the producer case, not to replace individual companies’ voices.
Submission
To
Date
Status
Document
Securing Australia’s Cleaner Fuels Industry
Consultation on a low carbon liquid fuel demand mechanism
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
September 2026
Lodged
PDF to be published on lodgement
Consultation timeline
18 August 2026
Consultation opens
The Commonwealth releases Securing Australia’s Cleaner Fuels Industry for comment.
31 August 2026
Public webinar
The department briefs stakeholders on the two-phase framework.
15 September 2026
Submissions close
The Alliance lodges its submission on behalf of its producer members.
Next
Design decisions
The department has said no decisions have been made on final design.
What our submission says
The consultation asks how the Commonwealth should create demand for low carbon liquid fuels. Our answer starts from the plants that already exist.
Phase 1 should be volumetric and should start in mid-2027. A volume obligation is the only instrument that reliably moves litres in the short term.
Petrol must remain an obligation fuel. It is the market that domestic ethanol reaches today.
A national E10 and B5 outcome by the end of Phase 1, delivered from existing and committed capacity.
That outcome should carry into Phase 2 as a floor beneath the carbon intensity benchmark, so the transition cannot be met on paper while domestic production declines.
The obligation should fall on refiners and importers, using Minimum Stockholding Obligation definitions.
Road transport must remain the anchor market for ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol production should not be ringfenced for alcohol-to-jet.
Biodiesel is treated on the same terms as ethanol throughout, including feedstock recognition and blend pathways.
International experience supports a volumetric start. More than 60 countries operate blending obligations for road transport. Brazil moved to E30 and B15 in 2025, India reached E20 five years ahead of target, and Indonesia has held B40 since 2025. In each case a volume obligation, not a certificate market, did the work.
The consultation
The Commonwealth’s consultation paper, Securing Australia’s Cleaner Fuels Industry, opened on 18 August 2026 and closed on 15 September 2026 at 11.59pm AEST. It sets out a conceptual two-phase framework: volume-based requirements in Phase 1, moving to carbon intensity standards in Phase 2. The department notes that no decisions have been made on the final design.
Making a submission of your own
Producers, fuel users, feedstock suppliers and distributors can lodge directly with the department. If you are a producer and want the Alliance case to carry your evidence, contact the secretariat before a consultation closes.