Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Credits Overview

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard is designed to decrease the carbon intensity of transportation fuels in California and provide a range of low-carbon alternatives, which reduce petroleum dependency and achieve air quality benefits. The LCFS sets annual carbon intensity (CI) standards, or benchmarks, which reduce over time, for gasoline, diesel, and the fuels that replace them. Charging ports that are installed under the EV Ready Program would qualify for the fuel pathways generation option in the program as they are providing electricity as a fuel to vehicles.

Credits are generated at EV charging ports by delivering electricity to vehicles. The number of credits generated are based on the carbon intensity score of the electricity and the amount of energy delivered. Per CARB regulations, the owner of the EV charging station can choose to designate the ownership of the credits to any entity. Either owner or the designated entity must submit records of the amount of energy delivered for each charging port to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for verification. Once CARB verifies the record, the entity then receives credits that can be sold, like renewable energy credits or carbon offsets, to other companies seeking to reduce their GHG footprint to comply with regulations.

Peninsula Clean Energy receives and administers LCFS credits generated by stations installed under the Peninsula Clean Energy EV Ready program to provide additional incentives and technical assistance to San Mateo County residents and businesses. 100% of funds received by Peninsula Clean Energy are reinvested in the community. EV Ready incentive recipients will be provided the option to delegate LCFS credits to Peninsula Clean Energy.

You can learn more about Low Carbon Fuel Standard here: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/lcfs-basics