The latest Global Ethanol Production Forecast from the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) and F.O. Licht predicts the global ethanol sector will remain strong in 2017, with total production peaking at 97.80 billion litres this year.

The forecast shows a stable global outlook for ethanol production as a whole, “with some fluctuations in major ethanol producing regions as a result of evolving government policies and varied domestic growing conditions,” according to GRFA president Bliss Baker.“Ethanol’s value as an immediately dispatchable transport fuel alternative to fossil fuels represents a key policy option with enormous growth potential,” said Baker.

The global transport sector has the lowest renewable energy share of any sector, while representing 25-30% of global emissions. Recent reports have concluded that current national policies aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from global transport activity will not achieve climate targets and that governments will have to redouble efforts to meet steeper targets in coming years.