The U.S. Grains Council (USGC), Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) announced that registration is open for the first-ever Global Ethanol Summit (GES), Oct. 13-15 in the District of Columbia.

The goal of the summit is to engage a broad range of global ethanol leaders about the benefits of expanding global ethanol use. More than 250 ministerial-level officials and senior-level industry leaders, ethanol producers and refiners from more than 40 countries have been invited to attend.

“We are very excited to open this unique event to policy makers and ethanol users from across the globe,” said Ryan LeGrand, USGC president and chief executive officer. “The Global Ethanol Summit is a natural progression of our regional conferences and will continue to build on the momentum we have established to expand ethanol’s global use and trade over the last five years of outreach.”

The GES follows two previous regional ethanol summits — the Ethanol Summit of the Americas held in October 2017 and the Ethanol Summit of the Asia-Pacific held in May 2018.

Additional funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program and other sponsors will support the expanded focus of the GES.

With informative general sessions, networking and dedicated business-to-business meetings over two days, the GES will provide attendees direct access to thought leaders on the future of global ethanol use and the opportunity to build partnerships with industry leaders.

“Ethanol has experienced unprecedented international popularity over the past two years as governments around the globe increasingly adopt it into their fuel supply to meet their economic and environmental goals,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “The Global Ethanol Summit is a valuable opportunity for attendees to forge strong trade relations and to provide foreign stakeholders with access to the expertise and lessons learned in the American ethanol context. We are proud to sponsor this summit and continue the discussion on expanding the global ethanol outlook for years to come.”

The GES will also feature a U.S. sales component that builds on current ethanol trade. For the past 10 years, ethanol has been the fastest-growing agricultural export, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

“We believe the summit will lead to greater global understanding of the economic and environmental benefits of ethanol, and the important role that effective public policy and free trade play in the realization of those benefits,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We are proud to be a partner with the U.S. Grains Council in this effort to educate the world about the value of renewable fuels like ethanol. We know the informational sessions and the networking opportunities will be invaluable for all of the participants involved.”

Following the Summit, the Council and its members will organize specialized tours of U.S. ethanol production facilities and terminals for international summit attendees.

Interested domestic ethanol industry leaders and other members of the ethanol value chain can register for the event at www.grains.org/event/ges.