SBP Welcomes Consultation on the Introduction of an FSC Carbon Footprint Procedure

The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) welcomes the FSC’s consultation on the possible introduction of a voluntary FSC Carbon Footprint Procedure. SBP believes that such an instrument, capable of measuring the carbon footprint of the full range of wood products, would have a positive impact on production and consumption behaviours.

The SBP certification system was introduced in 2015 to provide a tool allowing energy producers using woody biomass to demonstrate compliance with regulatory, including sustainability, requirements. The importance of forest-level certification, such as FSC, is fully recognised by SBP and it has never been the intention of SBP to compete with or replicate such systems. However, limited uptake of forest-level certification in some key forest source areas or wood baskets coupled with the fact that, to date, such systems themselves do not yet cover all the key regulatory requirements faced by users of woody biomass for energy production necessitated the introduction of the SBP certification system.

SBP Chief Executive Officer, Carsten Huljus commented: “SBP is keen to encourage greater uptake of forest-level certification in key forest source areas and this includes encouraging such certification systems to provide a complete solution for wood-to-energy producers.

“We are pleased to see FSC propose the introduction of a mechanism to measure the carbon footprint of the full range of wood products along the supply chain”.