The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today announced that 200 organisations now currently hold active SBP certificates. The organisations have been certified in accordance with the SBP certification system, which provides assurance that woody biomass is sourced from legal and sustainable sources in line with the definitions held by competent, regulatory authorities.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, commented: “This is another important milestone for SBP. Our purpose is to facilitate the environmentally and socially responsible management of biomass resources to enable climate goals to be met.

“Our certificate holders are spread across 24 countries and last year over 9 million tonnes of biomass was produced and sold with an SBP claim.

“With production and sales volumes holding firm for this year, we anticipate that once again we will be able to report that SBP-certified pellets account for the majority of industrial pellets consumed in the EU-28.”

SBP Certificate Holders are either biomass producers, traders, or the end-users of SBP-certified biomass, such as large-scale utilities producing heat and power. A list of Certificate Holders may be viewed at: http://www.sbp-cert.org/approvals-and-certifications/certificate-holders.

In accordance with the SBP Regional Risk Assessment Procedure, Conseil de l’industrie forestiere du Québec (CIFQ) and the Quebec Wood Export Bureau (QWEB) have prepared a draft Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) report for the Canadian province of Quebec. CIFQ and QWEB are now consulting on the draft RRA to ensure relevance to national/regional conditions and to allow stakeholders to contribute to the RRA process.

The consultation is open until 23 October 2019. If you wish to participate in the consultation process please visit: https://www.boiscertifies.ca/qcsbp-rra

Please note this is not an SBP consultation, all enquiries should be directed to Nicolas Blanchette.

SBP has today launched a consultation on Instruction Document 2E. The Instruction Document specifies the requirements for the evaluation, using a risk based approach, of the sustainability requirements of Category 2 feedstock as defined by the Netherlands SDE+ requirements.

Category 2 feedstock is defined as feedstock from Forest Management Units of less than 500ha. Included within the definition are branches, tops, trees and primary felling residues sourced directly from such forests, and unused wood that has the same composition as wood growing in the forest and that has not been mixed with or contaminated by foreign materials or substances.

The Netherlands SDE+ requirements permit the evaluation of the sustainability of Biomass Category 2 to be undertaken using a risk based approach.

An SBP-certified biomass producer may implement the risk based approach defined in the Instruction Document to assess compliance with the SDE+ sustainability requirements. Biomass produced from feedstock sourced in compliance with those requirements may be supplied with dynamic batch sustainability data thereby indicating compliance.

The document can be found at: https://sbp-cert.org/documents/consultation-documents/live-consultation/instruction-document-2e-sbp-requirements-for-risk-based-approach-for-biomass-category-2/. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments and feedback by Monday, 12 August 2019. All responses should be sent to info@sbp-cert.org.