March 30, 2026. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signed the final rule to continue its Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) Program and set the volumetric obligations for renewable fuels (RVOs) used in on-road transportation for 2026 and 2027. Under the rule, EPA set the RVO for cellulosic fuels at 1.36 billion ethanol gallon equivalent (EGE) for 2026 and 1.43 billion EGE for 2027. The agency further clarifies that renewable natural gas (RNG) accounts for approximately 91 percent of the total volume for both years.
The Transport Project (TTP) submitted comments to EPA’s proposed rule urging the agency to consider supply-side data coupled with policy changes in setting the obligations for advanced renewable fuels, including renewable natural gas (RNG). EPA’s final rule reflects this approach incorporating increased demand for RNG and increasing RVO levels for cellulosic biofuel by approximately 5 percent in both 2026 and again in 2027 compared to what the agency initially proposed.
“The SET 2 rule provides market certainty for gaseous fuels industry in the U.S. and promotes continued use and national buildout of gaseous-fueled infrastructure for RNG within the commercial trucking, waste management and transit bus sectors nationwide,” said TTP President Dan Gage.
RNG as a transportation fuel provides a deflationary force in fuel and freight markets; not only is conventional natural gas far cheaper than diesel or gasoline on an energy equivalent basis, RNG is also less costly and more efficient to produce than its liquid biofuel counterparts. These cost efficiencies are passed down the value chain from production to retail to fleets, resulting in dramatically reduced fueling costs and thereby lower transportation related costs for American consumers.
In 2024, 86 percent of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in the U.S. was RNG,1 surpassing industry’s goal of achieving 80 percent by 2030. TTP will continue to advocate for higher RVOs for RNG in transportation fuel as the industry aspires to reach 100 percent RNG for natural gas vehicles by 2050.