WASHINGTON, April 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Roeslein Renewables announced its support for a new national push to secure a central role for American‑made biofuels in the future of global maritime shipping, following Roeslein Renewables' decision to sign onto a joint letter organized by the American Biofuels Maritime Initiative (ABMI) to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ahead of this week's upcoming negotiations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) meetings in London. The effort is aimed at ensuring that global maritime decarbonization also translates into durable new demand for American biofuels and additional income streams for U.S. farmers and rural communities.

Roeslein backs U.S. leadership at IMO

In the ABMI letter, leading biofuel and agricultural stakeholders urge the Trump administration to champion a global maritime fuels framework that is technology‑neutral, grounded in real‑world affordability and availability, and explicitly open to commercially proven solutions such as ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, renewable natural gas (RNG), and bio‑LNG. Roeslein joined this coalition to underscore that a pragmatic IMO outcome can support U.S. climate, trade, energy, and infrastructure goals while expanding opportunities for domestic biofuel producers and the agricultural and waste‑feedstock suppliers that serve them.

"For producers on the ground, the question is whether emerging maritime fuel standards will recognize the low‑carbon fuels U.S. farmers and producers are already delivering," said Bryan Sievers, Director of Government Relations at Roeslein Renewables. "Bio‑LNG made from farm‑based renewable natural gas can be used as a drop‑in fuel in existing LNG‑capable vessels and bunkering infrastructure, and biofuels are already produced at scale in rural America. If the United States secures a technology‑neutral framework that includes these options, policy will be aligning with solutions that are ready today, opening a meaningful new outlet for existing production, supporting rural balance sheets, and reinforcing America's role in a strategic sector of the global economy."

Turning farm liabilities into maritime fuel assets

Roeslein develops large‑scale manure‑to‑energy and prairie biomass projects that capture methane from livestock and crop residues, upgrade it into pipeline‑quality RNG, and position it as a low‑carbon fuel, including potential future use as bio‑LNG in ships. These projects help farmers manage manure, cut methane emissions, and turn what used to be a cost and compliance challenge into steady new revenue that can strengthen farm finances and rural businesses. As global shipping increases its use of low‑carbon fuels, an IMO framework that recognizes bio‑LNG and other farm‑based fuels would connect this existing rural production to an added, diversified source of demand in international maritime markets.

Refining a pragmatic global fuel framework

In detailed comments to the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), ABMI has supported a "pragmatic approach" proposed by Liberia, Argentina, and Panama, while recommending refinements to ensure the framework creates space for advanced fuels and does not simply codify existing patterns of LNG and petroleum use. The coalition urges negotiators to align overall ambition with the IMO's 2023 Strategy through a mid‑century trajectory that creates durable market signals for alternative fuels; adopt an affordability range that reflects real marine fuel price variation and existing climate‑policy costs; modernize "availability" criteria so widely used transport fuels like ethanol, biomass‑based diesel, and bio‑LNG are not excluded solely due to current bunkering patterns; and streamline or eliminate a separate "scalability" test that relies heavily on uncertain long‑term forecasts.

By aligning a workable maritime fuels framework with the administration's emerging Maritime Action Plan (MAP), U.S. policymakers can help ensure that new shipbuilding, fleet renewal, and fuel‑infrastructure investments are matched with American‑made low‑carbon fuels and the rural supply chains that produce them.

ABMI's recommendations draw on the experience of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which has established a long‑term market for renewable fuels and recently completed a 26.81‑billion‑gallon ethanol‑equivalent renewable volume obligation for 2026, showing the scale of existing U.S. production. The letter emphasizes that opening maritime markets to American biofuels could help address demand constraints currently facing some producers and contribute to more predictable outlets for farm‑based feedstocks.

"By putting U.S. biofuels at the heart of the maritime transition, we can translate international rulemaking into additional, market‑based opportunities for grain and livestock farmers and producers rather than a missed opening," Sievers noted. "That is why we are encouraging Secretary Rubio and the Trump administration to secure a framework that recognizes the contribution of American agriculture and rural energy projects to the global shipping industries decarbonization goals while reducing harmful emissions."

About the American Biofuels Maritime Initiative

The American Biofuels Maritime Initiative is a coalition of biofuel and agricultural organizations co‑chaired by the American Biogas Council and the Renewable Fuels Association that works to expand opportunities for American‑made biofuels in the maritime sector and inform U.S. engagement in international shipping negotiations.

About Roeslein Renewables

Roeslein Renewables is a leading developer of on-farm manure‑to‑energy projects that can integrate restored native prairie and winter-hardy cover crops which capture biogas from livestock farms and agricultural lands, upgrade it into renewable natural gas, and support decarbonization across sectors such as transportation, maritime, agriculture, and power, while providing new high-paying income streams and jobs in rural America.

For more information about Roeslein's work to bring farm‑based renewable fuels into the maritime sector, or to request an interview, please contact:

Media Contact:
Bryan Sievers, Director of Government Relations |
Sophia Laurent Stone, Assistant Director of Government Relations | <slaurent@roesleinae.com>

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