The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today published its 2019 annual review. The review is available at www.sbp-cert.org/documents/annual-reviews.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am pleased to report that 2019 was another successful year for SBP. We have seen continued growth in the number of our certificate holders, furthered our geographic reach and, above all, put into practice our new governance arrangements.

“We have also reviewed our strategy, developed a three-year work plan to deliver that strategy, and made solid progress on aligning our operations with best practice, as demonstrated by leading sustainability standards. All of which puts us in good shape to make SBP future-fit and realise our ambition to position SBP as the certification system of choice for biomass.

“Looking ahead, we have some important and significant pieces of work to undertake. The preparations for our standards development process are well advanced and the launch is scheduled for Wednesday, 20 May. The programme of work will call on all stakeholders for their views, ideas and experience to ensure that our standards are credible and robust.

“Essential to our credibility and reputation is the impact we, as a certification system, are having in the marketplace. We plan to develop a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system to demonstrate our impact. And in our quest to introduce best practice across all our operations we will be embarking on a digitalisation project to enable a more efficient audit process and smarter data collection.

“Through our credible and robust certification system, assuring responsible practice throughout the biomass supply chain, SBP is the promise of good biomass and is an integral part of the solution for tackling climate change.”

SBP has today issued guidance on increased flexibility in certification audit requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, for certification bodies (CBs) providing SBP certification. Read the full guidance here.

SBP has today opened a public consultation on the Revised Final Draft Regional Risk Assessment (RRA) for Portugal. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments on the draft.

The Revised Final Draft RRA for Portugal has been prepared at the request of ANPEB, the Portuguese Pellet Association, which provided financial support for developing the RRA in accordance with SBP RRA Procedure v1.0.

The Revised Final Draft may be viewed at: https://sbp-cert.org/documents/consultation-documents/live-consultations/risk-portugal/. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments to info@sbp-cert.org by the close of business on Friday, 20 March 2020.

As an integral part of the public consultation, SBP and the Portuguese Association of Wood and Furniture Industries are hosting a one-day workshop in Lisbon on Thursday, 5 March to discuss the Revised Final Draft. To secure a place on the workshop please register via Registration link.

Regional Risk Assessments are a key part of SBP’s focus on identifying and mitigating risks associated with sourcing feedstock for biomass wood pellet and woodchip production. The SBP certification system is designed to provide assurance that all feedstock is sourced legally and sustainably.

Feedstock certified at the forest level through FSC^® or PEFC schemes and feedstock from recycled sources is automatically SBP-compliant. All other feedstock must be evaluated using a risk-based approach.

Typically, the Biomass Producer – a pellet or woodchip mill – is responsible for carrying out the risk assessment and putting in place mitigation measures to manage any specified risks such that they can be considered as controlled and hence low risk. It is the role of an independent, third-party accredited Certification Body to determine, amongst other things, that the feedstock evaluation has been correctly undertaken.

The purpose of a Regional Risk Assessment is to evaluate an entire geographic region and determine the risks associated with sourcing feedstock for biomass wood pellet or woodchip production from that region. Thus, the need for individual Biomass Producers to conduct risk assessments is avoided. Further, Regional Risk Assessments are particularly valuable where statutory protection for forested land is limited.

SBP has today announced that its certification system now offers the complete solution for compliance with the biomass sustainability requirements of the Netherlands’ SDE+ subsidy programme.

The latest consents from the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy for Biomass Category 2 using a risk-based approach and for SDE+ Controlled Biomass together with the approvals already granted provide an end-to-end solution for the full range of woody biomass types recognised by the Dutch authorities.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, said: “From the outset, SBP’s objective was to serve the key biomass markets in Europe. With these latest approvals we have achieved that. We will continue to serve those markets, but are now positioning SBP as the biomass standard for new geographies.

“SBP offers a tried and tested, off-the-shelf solution for emerging biomass markets. Policy makers need look no further than our certification system. The approvals we have earned come on the back of rigorous benchmarking and evaluation. SBP is a pre-requisite for trading biomass internationally.”

SBP’s approvals under the SDE+ regime cover woody biomass from feedstock sourced from forest residues, through the SBP Group Scheme and now through the SBP Risk Based Approach for Biomass Category 2, as well as processing residues.

The additional approval for SDE+ Controlled Biomass covers biomass that meets a subset of the full sustainability requirements, which is acceptable to be physically mixed (according to prescribed limits) with sustainable biomass.

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.

SBP has today launched a consultation on its Document Development Procedure. SBP is revising its Procedure to better reflect the changes in the governance arrangements of SBP and to bring SBP in line with best practice requirements.

The Document Development Procedure specifies the steps to be followed for the revision of existing documentation or the issuing of new documentation that informs the implementation and operation of the SBP certification system. The Procedure covers a wide range of both normative and non-normative documents, including sustainability standards, other standards, instruction documents, guidance documents, interpretative documents, process documents and contracts.

All documents that inform the implementation and operation of the SBP certification system shall be developed in compliance with the Procedure.

The purpose of the Procedure is to ensure the credibility of all SBP documentation by incorporating the values of transparency, participation and fairness into their development, and through compliance with international best practice for standards development.

The document can be found at: www.sbp-cert.org/documents/consultation-documents/live-consultations. Interested parties are invited to provide written comments and feedback by Monday, 5 August 2019. All responses should be sent to info@sbp-cert.org.

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.”

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.”