The Global Ethanol Association (GEA) and DNV have announced the launch of a three-year Ethanol Data Intelligence Partnership, expanding their existing collaboration in ethanol research and data intelligence.

Under the agreement, GEA will develop and supply ethanol fuel data intelligence for integration into DNV’s Alternative Fuels Insight (AFI) platform — a tool used to evaluate and compare alternative fuel options for shipping. The initiative aims to build a structured global database of ethanol production facilities, covering locations, production capacities, feedstocks and raw materials, as well as fuel and output categories — all based on documented and traceable sources.

The partnership is, according to the two organisations, intended to improve visibility and transparency across the global ethanol industry.

Sylvain Zurcher, President of the Global Ethanol Association, remarked: “Through this collaboration, we are establishing the research infrastructure needed to map ethanol production facilities globally from a fuel-grade perspective and transform fragmented information into structured and traceable market intelligence. By providing greater visibility into areas such as production capacity, feedstocks, fuel categories and other fields of research, our objective is to help reduce information asymmetries for market participants and support better-informed decisions across the ethanol value chain.”

Nathaniel Frithiof, Sales Lead Digital Products at DNV, commented: “As we have expanded and added new assets to the AFI platform, we have always looked to build around the provision of high-quality, verifiable data. And from our first meeting with GEA, we have been very impressed by their commitment to providing the industry with solid insights on ethanol and the way they have already been able to build a solid network within the industry. This is looking to be a very productive partnership, and we are positive that this new data intelligence from GEA will enable our AFI customers to explore new shipping fuel pathways with confidence.”

GEA said the new capability complements its existing work across marine and aviation sector initiatives, project groups, policy engagement and market-development activities.