Policy priorities to advance Minnesota’s bioeconomy in 2025

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota’s Policy Committee works together to advocate for policies that help the bioeconomy grow. Each year, the coalition releases a policy platform outlining the coalition’s goals for the legislative session.

This post outlines member priorities for the 2025 session. The priorities include fully funding the Minnesota Bioincentive Program, enacting a clean transportation standard, supporting sustainable aviation fuel production, and other agricultural, forestry, and clean fuel-related policies.

A rocky start to Minnesota’s 2025 legislative session

The 2025 Minnesota legislative session began on Tuesday, January 14. It was far from a traditional start: House Democrats boycotted the first weeks of the session; House Republicans moved to elect their own speaker and appoint committee chairs despite a lack of quorum, which the Minnesota Supreme Court ultimately rolled back; and Republicans announced a recall campaign against each Democratic House member. On the Senate side, leaders struck a temporary power-sharing agreement pending the results of a January special election, which resulted in a 1-seat majority for the Democrats.

It was a fitting start to a legislative session that promises to be interesting, given complex power-sharing agreements, special elections, and court challenges. For now, however, most of these challenges have been resolved and the political stalemate has ended.

In addition to uncertainty at the state level, Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota members are expecting changes to federal policy that could impact our work. President Donald Trump has indicated he will repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation, which directed significant investments into clean fuels and other coalition priorities. Uncertainty about the impacts and timing of federal policy changes could introduce additional challenges in an already unpredictable legislative session.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota’s 2025 policy platform

Despite a challenging state and federal landscape, Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota members are gearing up to engage productively with the legislative process over the next few months. The coalition will advocate for policy changes to grow Minnesota’s bioeconomy and position the state as an industry leader while protecting the environment. With expected rollbacks at the federal level, state policy and funding become even more critical.

As outlined below, specific policies the coalition supports include fully funding Minnesota’s bioincentive program, enacting a clean transportation standard, and providing additional financial incentives for sustainable aviation fuel production and use. Other priorities include policies that would support the utilization of waste wood, biogenic carbon reduction, anaerobic digestion, and biomass waste utilization.

The policy statements below reflect the direction of the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota for the 2025 legislative session and are supported by the following members:

Amp Americas

Clean Energy Economy Minnesota

Conservation Minnesota

Dovetail Partners, Inc.

Gevo

Highwater Ethanol, LLC

Koda Energy

Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association

Minnesota Forestry Association

Natural Resources Research Institute

Oberon Fuels

Partnership on Waste and Energy

Rahr Corporation

Sappi North America

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports a fully funded Bioincentive Program so that Minnesota can fulfill its commitment to companies that have made investments in the state and so the program can continue to attract additional projects. The Minnesota Legislature created the performance-based Bioincentive Program to encourage commercial-scale production of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biomass thermal energy. Rather than providing upfront dollars in the form of grants or loans, the program requires companies to begin producing eligible products before receiving incentive payments. Despite the program’s demonstrated success at spurring investment and creating economic benefits across the state, it remains underfunded.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports sustainable aviation fuel production and use in Minnesota. Minnesota is set to become a leader in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature created a SAF tax credit to support the production and blending of sustainable aviation fuel in the state. Later that year, Delta Air Lines, Greater MSP Partnership, Bank of America, Ecolab, and Xcel Energy launched the Minnesota SAF Hub, including plans for the first SAF blending facility in Minnesota and only the third in the United States. The state can do more to support this industry and the economic and environmental benefits it will bring to Minnesota through legislation and additional funding.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports the implementation of the recommendations from the Governor’s Council on Biofuels, including implementing a clean fuel standard, supporting E-15 blending year-round, and investing in biofuel blending infrastructure. In September 2019, Governor Walz signed Executive Order 19-35, establishing the Governor’s Council on Biofuels. In November 2020, the council released recommendations to the governor and agency leaders regarding how to foster the growth of Minnesota’s biofuels industry.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports markets for wood residuals, bug-infested waste wood, and other underutilized wood. Multiple trends are creating challenges for Minnesota’s wood industries. Insect infestations like the emerald ash borer (EAB) are increasing wood waste and imposing costs on Minnesota communities. Meanwhile, faced with declining markets, mills are stockpiling wood residuals. It is critical to develop sustainable markets for waste wood to ensure the long-term health of Minnesota’s forested lands and wood industries. Opportunities to increase wood utilization in the state include adopting mass timber building code provisions, converting wood waste to biochar, and creating incentives for clean fuel production.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports the development of anaerobic digestion projects in the state. Anaerobic digestion technologies have been successful in other parts of the United States and Europe to convert organic materials into biogas. Biogas can be used on-site for electricity generation, upgraded partially for use in compressed natural gas vehicles, or upgraded to pipeline-quality renewable natural gas for sale into low-carbon fuels markets or the Renewable Fuels Standard. In each case, biogas displaces the use of conventional fuels, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports legislation and funding to bolster biogenic carbon reduction, reuse, and storage. Capturing, storing, and utilizing biogenic carbon—or carbon already pulled from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and stored in plant material—presents an opportunity for not just zero-carbon but net-negative carbon energy, fuels, and products. With federal incentives supporting innovative carbon removal projects, many states will be competing for industry investments. Creating more state-level incentives would make Minnesota more attractive for investments in this innovative area. This presents an opportunity to maximize the carbon removal benefits for the use of state biomass resources while promoting economic development.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota supports on-site biomass waste utilization for heat and electricity generation. On-site generation of heat and electricity from biomass increases waste utilization and results in lower costs through reduced reliance on transmission infrastructure. The state can support energy production from biomass waste by providing incentives for distributed generation. This would also fill a gap left by federal incentives, which do not provide sufficient support for distributed generation.

The Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota is facilitated by the Great Plains Institute (GPI), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization accelerating the transition to net-zero carbon emissions for the benefit of people, the economy, and the environment. GPI combines a unique consensus-building approach, expert knowledge, research and analysis, and local action to find and implement lasting solutions.

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