SBP Annual Report 2018 Published

The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today published its 2018 annual report. The report is available at: www.sbp-cert.org/documents/annual-reports.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We have delivered against our stated priorities for 2018, whilst continuing to grow our Certificate Holder base and geographic spread.

“During the year, we concluded the work on our governance transition process to finish the year with multi-stakeholder governance arrangements in place. Our annual report introduces all those stakeholders who have taken on a governing role under the new structure.

“Our presence in the biomass market has continued to grow, with just over 9 million tonnes of SBP-certified biomass produced and sold by biomass producers during the year, an increase of 80% on 2017. Our Data Transfer System ensures that all SBP-certified biomass from production to consumption is tracked and accompanied by verified data, including energy and carbon data.

“In evaluating how SBP makes a difference, we report on our six key impacts that define the intended outcomes from the implementation of our certification system. In addition to the activities of SBP, we report on stakeholder perspectives and the actions of those in the supply chain towards achieving our desired outcomes.

“Through maintaining a robust and credible certification system we aim to provide assurance of responsible practice in the sourcing and production of biomass used for energy generation. The continued development of SBP is critical to our ongoing success.”

SBP Technical Committee Members Named

Today, SBP Chief Executive Officer, Carsten Huljus, named the members of the SBP Technical Committee who will take up their positions with immediate effect.

Commenting on the Technical Committee appointments, Carsten Huljus said: “The Technical Committee is a representation of specialist expertise across the disciplines encompassed by the SBP standards, including forest management, feedstock processing, biomass distribution, as well as knowledge of auditing, certification and/or accreditation processes and procedures.

“The role of the Committee is, amongst other things, to provide advice to the Board on SBP’s technical and scientific functions, including but not limited to SBP’s certification and accreditation criteria and methodologies.

“The members of the Committee have been chosen to reflect the necessary specialist knowledge and to ensure balance across regional geographies.

“I am delighted to announce that the six members of the Technical Committee are: Kim Cesafsky, Manager of Sustainability at Enviva, the world’s largest producer of wood biomass fuels; Anders Hildeman, an independent consultant with several years’ experience in forestry and certification; Brenda Hopkin, an independent consultant with several years’ experience in forestry and certification; Peter Kofod Kristensen, Senior Lead Sustainability Advisor at Ørsted, a global renewable energy company; Rob Shaw, Technical Manager at Soil Association Certification Limited, a Certification Body for organic and sustainable certification schemes; and Martin Walter, Professor in timber trade, wood manufacturing and certification at the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, and an independent consultant.

“We are privileged to have such expertise at hand. The Technical Committee adds further strength to SBP’s multi-stakeholder governance arrangements and completes the transition process. Together, we can now focus on the task of governing the organisation.”

Certificate Holders Invited to Pilot New Data Templates

SBP is inviting Certificate Holders to pilot the new SAR and SREG templates. If, as a Certificate Holder, you wish to participate in the pilot please contact your Certification Body. Your Certification Body will provide full details of the pilot and the templates. We anticipate that the pilot will run for around two months, subject to uptake and feedback received.

Those Certificate Holders not wishing participate in the pilot should continue to use the current SAR and SREG templates.

SBP Consultation on Public Summary Report and Supply Base Report Templates

SBP has today launched a consultation on the Public Summary Report and Supply Base Report templates. The changes to the templates are proposed following feedback from users, and also to reflect anticipated modifications to the Audit Report on Energy and GHG Data (SAR) and Audit Report on Energy and GHG Data for Supplied Biomass (SREG).

The templates can be found at: Live Consultations. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments and feedback by Friday, 5 April 2019. All responses should be sent to info@sbp-cert.org.