DOE opens an Emissions Value Request process for the 45Z clean fuel production credit
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe US Department of Energy announced on 14 October 2026 that its Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office (AFFO) has released a pre-publication draft of a Federal Register notice setting out the Emissions Value Request (EVR) process for the 45Z fuel production tax credit.
What 45Z is, in DOE's words. The Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit under Internal Revenue Code Section 45Z provides a production incentive for certain feedstocks produced in the United States, Mexico or Canada. DOE says the credit was modified and extended under the law it calls the Working Families Tax Cut.
The gap the process fills. To claim the credit, transportation fuel producers must take the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions rate of their fuel from the applicable 45Z rate table. If the fuel type, primary feedstock or production pathway is not in that table, the producer has to petition the Secretary of the Treasury for a provisional emission rate (PER). The EVR process is the route through which producers obtain an emissions value from DOE and then use it in their petition to Treasury.
What applicants submit. Following DOE's EVR application instructions, requests must include engineering information or analyses consistent with the specified section of a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study, or a similar indication of project maturity as determined by DOE. Applicants may add further information that would help DOE complete the life-cycle analysis of the pathway described in the EVR form and the FEED study.
Where questions go. DOE handles the EVR process through its 45Z EVR webpage and the address [email protected]; questions about the credit itself and eligibility are to be directed to the Internal Revenue Service. The notice released on 14 October is a pre-publication draft; its Federal Register publication is still to follow.
Source: US Department of Energy, "Energy Department Releases Emissions Value Request Process for 45Z Fuel Production Credit" — https://www.energy.gov/articles/energy-department-releases-emissions-value-request-process-45z-fuel-production-credit