The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today published a suite of draft documents designed to ensure compliance with the revised Directive EU/2018/2001 (REDIII). These updates reflect the latest sustainability criteria and reporting requirements, further strengthening SBP’s commitment to supporting responsible biomass sourcing and use.
Carsten Huljus, CEO of SBP commented: “These updates demonstrate SBP’s ongoing dedication to maintaining robust compliance with evolving regulatory requirements. By providing clear guidance and transparent processes, we continue to support our Certificate Holders in meeting the highest sustainability standards.”
The key updates include:
- Instruction Document EU RED: Bridging Requirements for Meeting the revised Directive EU/2023/2413 incorporates changes to sustainability criteria for forest biomass and introduces a new SBP EU RED-compliant claim.
- Instruction Document EU RED: Principles for Management of EU RED Scheme contains minor updates to references for alignment with REDIII.
- Instruction Document 6D: Methodology for the Calculation and Certification of GHG Emissions Savings for EU RED contains updates to reflect minor reference changes, revised greenhouse gas emission savings thresholds, and applicable dates.
- Compliance with the SBP Framework: Audit checklists for EU RED scheme is adjusted to align with changes in Instruction Document EU RED: Bridging Requirements for Meeting the revised Directive EU/2023/2413.
- Proof of Sustainability (PoS) for the delivery of biomass fuels includes minor updates to references to ensure compliance.
The draft documents are now available on the SBP website here. All changes are highlighted within the documents for easy identification. Final versions will be published in due course, with an effective date of 21 May 2025. Certificate Holders are encouraged to review the changes and prepare to implement any necessary adjustments to ensure continued compliance.
To help stakeholders navigate these updates, SBP will host a webinar on Thursday, 3 April. The webinar is essential for SBP Certificate Holders – especially as compliance with RED requirements is mandatory under SBP Standards (v2.0) – as well as auditors and other stakeholders interested in sustainable biomass certification. Register here.
SBP is also in the process of updating Level A risk assessments to align with the revised REDIII sustainability requirements (Article 29(6)). Our preliminary research indicates that Level A alone is unlikely to cover all sustainable harvest indicators in the countries where we currently have or are developing Regional Risk Assessments (RRAs), including Denmark, the Baltics, Canada, the US, and Vietnam.
This is primarily because some newly defined ‘no-go areas’ may not be fully protected by law in certain countries. For example, logging in primary or old-growth forests may still be legally permitted.
We expect to have further details soon. In the meantime, we strongly recommend that Certificate Holders begin preparing their management systems to operate under Level B routes to meet the updated sustainability requirements.
