Category: Blog

ABO’s work to build a supportive regulatory environment that can advance algae technology development saw some encouraging developments this past month, especially on our carbon utilization priorities:

New tax credit guidance for carbon utilization was announced by the Treasury

On the regulatory side, the Internal Revenue Service released a new set of regulations for the Section 45Q tax code that can award a federal investment tax credit of up to $35 per ton for carbon utilization with algae. A 60-day comment period on the regulation is now underway. Read more at K&L Gates’ Global Power Policy & Law blog.

The Senate is exploring carbon markets at the USDA

On the policy side, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill that would put the regulation of agricultural carbon markets in the purview of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bill is supported by ABO, and would build upon the algae industry’s coordination already underway at USDA in the wake of the most recent Farm Bill. That legislation established algae as an officially recognized agricultural crop in the United States for the time. Read more at the National Law Review.

The Department of Energy awarded up $6 million to advanced algae carbon capture projects

In funding news, ABO’s work to build robust support for cutting-edge research and development funding paid off with an announcement from the Department of Energy that two algae carbon capture projects would receive up to $6,000,000 in funding to move forward. Read about the awardees at Biomass Magazine.

ABO also voiced support for legislation on biofuel tax credits, $26 billion for academic research, and green infrastructure incentives:

• ABO joined a number of other groups asking Congress to extend biofuels tax credits. Read the letter to the House Ways and Means Committee here.
• COVID-19 disruptions threaten research across dozens of scientific fields. ABO supports the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act, which would authorize $26 billion in emergency relief for research universities, independent institutions, and national laboratories to continue working on federally-funded research projects. Read more at Rep. Diana DeGette’s website.
• A bill to expand renewable energy with tax incentives, the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act, also received ABO support. Read about the bill at Rep. Mike Thompson’s website.

ABO’s policy work will be a hot topic of discussion at the virtual Algae Biomass Summit, beginning August 12, 2020. Register for this online event today to get involved.

Algae can be a excellent source of sustainable oils for countless markets: fuel, feed, food, cosmetics and more. On June 29 those studying how oils from algae are making an impact in our lives can discover some of the latest innovations at The American Oil Chemists’ Society’s Annual Meeting & Expo. The event is free to attend will feature presentations and insightful sessions about the latest trends in fats, oils, proteins, surfactants and related materials.

AOCS has been a long-time partner of ABO, having worked closely with our Technical Standard Committee and on other initiatives.

More than 40 virtual exhibitors, including ABO, are also featured during the event. Be sure to check us out!

More information about the 2020 AOCS Annual Meeting can be found here: https://annualmeeting.aocs.org

And don’t forget to explore the full algae opportunity later this Summer at the virtual 2020 Algae Biomass Summit. We will feature deep-dives into market opportunities, technical sessions, career development workshops and more.

In May, the European Commission adopted two new strategies as part of the European Green Deal that proposes ambitious actions and commitments to reduce biodiversity loss and transform the food system to improve human health, planetary sustainability, and the food supply chain. The food system strategy is called Farm to Fork (F2F), and specifically calls out algae as part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve food sustainability. The strategy document can be found here.

Excerpts include:

“[The Commission] will examine EU rules to reduce the dependency on critical feed materials (e.g. soya grown on deforested land) by fostering EU-grown plant proteins as well as alternative feed materials such as insects, marine feed stocks (e.g. algae) and by-products from the bio-economy (e.g. fish waste).” (page 8)

“[The Commission] will also set out well-targeted support for the algae industry, as algae should become an important source of alternative protein for a sustainable food system and global food security.” (page 10)

The inclusion of algae in the EU’s sustainability strategy is a milestone for an industry that has quickly advanced scientific and technical breakthroughs into commercial applications that can improve global food systems. Visit this page for more information about the EU’s F2F strategy.

By Mark P. Allen, P.E.

This month ABO’s Board of Directors welcomes Jill Kauffman Johnson, Head of Global Market Development, Algae Ingredients at Corbion as our new Chair. Jill brings exactly the kind of experience in science, product commercialization and public policy that can take this industry into the next chapter of development.

For the past two years, I have served as Chair of ABO’s Board of Directors, and it has been incredibly rewarding to have a front row seat to all this organization is doing to advance algae as a new sustainable technology platform.

When ABO was first founded, much of the conversation was about the potential for algae to revolutionize biofuel markets. That work is still going strong, but perhaps the greater impact of this industry has been the hundreds of other applications that blossomed as the fuel work was underway. Jill’s work with Corbion developing algae-based omega-3s for salmon feed and other products is a leading example.

ABO is now welcoming a diversity of members from aquaculture, animal feed, human food ingredients, soil health, wastewater treatments, materials, clothing, plastics and more. All of them are finding ways for algae to be a sustainable source of products and services. It is an explosion of diversity few of us anticipated when we opened ABO for business 15 years ago.

Many of these new possibilities can be traced back to cutting-edge research and development projects sponsored by federal agencies. That research was conducted at universities, national laboratories and in collaborations between private entrepreneurs and publicly supported partners. It is a technology development model that has been successful in other sectors, such as in the early days of the internet, and it is now paying dividends for the algae industry as well.

Agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy have been able to drive this research largely because of the Congressional support that was built early on when ABO helped organize the Congressional Algae Caucus. This bipartisan group of elected officials recognized that a robust algae industry could be a great asset to the United States’ economic, environmental and energy security.

ABO’s voice has helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars for advanced R&D, and more support is on the way. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is now making algae farming a priority, and an interagency working group is coordinating research underway at a growing constellation of federal agencies.

What comes next will push algae into an even larger world of collaboration and innovation. Today, ABO is working with a coalition to establish an Algae Center of Excellence (ACE). ACE is designed to facilitate coordination and funding among companies, researchers, investors, farmers, product developers and other stakeholders that will accelerate and broaden commercialization of algae products in areas of food, feed, biomaterials, soil health, wastewater treatment, and beyond. ACE will help unlock a market potential for algae that could exceed $300 billion by 2030.

We will explore much of that market potential at the upcoming 2020 Algae Biomass Summit, which is being re-tooled into a virtual experience that will welcome a global audience. This year a series of Industry Spotlights sessions will kick off the Summit and explore how algae is impacting food markets, polymer production, carbon capture and more. They will be valuable sessions for anybody interested in harnessing the potential of algae.

It has been a pleasure to see the arc of a new technology being deployed into the world. ABO has been diligent from the beginning, and has become a vital voice for the algae industry. For those looking to become involved from a scientific, technological or commercial perspective, ABO has become an indispensable point of contact.

I am honored to have had the chance to serve as Board Chair, and even more honored to pass the torch to Jill. She has been a part of the algae technology arc throughout her own career, and will be an invaluable resource for ABO members as we enter the next phase.

I thank every ABO member that is working at every junction of this exciting industry. As a result of your support, we are well positioned to sustain a rapid pace of growth.  Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
Mark P. Allen, P.E.
ABO Board of Directors
Vice President, Accelergy

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture is gearing up for the 2022 Census of Agriculture by tuning up their lists of farms and adding new farmers. This official count of U.S. farms and ranches, and the people that operate them, is a vital tool for federal agencies to determine the value and importance of U.S. agriculture operations as they make policy decisions. Microalgae and macroalgae farmers are encouraged to participate.

The NAA believes that with the decline in the number of aquaculture extension specialists and reduced surveying of aquaculture production by state agricultural statistics services, there has been a significant decline in the communication of commercial aquatic farmer contact information to NASS. 

We need algae farmers of all kinds to join the NASS Census so that the algae industry is counted!
 
Algae producers that are interested in participating should send their contact information (name, title, company, address, phone and email) to Rebecca White at rwhite@algaebiomass.org by May 31, 2020.