Alto Ingredients cashes in 2025 clean fuel tax credits for $8.9 million in low carbon ethanol deal

Alto Ingredients has sold all of its 2025 Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credits to a third party for about $8.9 million in cash. The credits come from low carbon ethanol produced at the company's Pekin Dry Mill and Columbia facilities. This is a direct example of how the 45Z tax credit, part of the Inflation Reduction Act, is being used by ethanol producers to generate real cash from lower carbon fuel production. The deal shows the market for clean fuel tax credits is active and that producers can monetize these incentives before the tax year ends. Alto Ingredients says it plans to do the same for its 2026 credits. For anyone tracking the practical impact of climate policy on industrial operations, this is a concrete case of a company turning a carbon reduction incentive into liquidity. The article itself is a press release, so details on the buyer and the exact carbon intensity of the fuel are thin, but the headline number is useful.