The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today announced that it has received a positive technical assessment of its certification scheme from the European Commission for recognition under the standards of reliability, transparency and independent auditing required by the Renewable Energy Directive EU/2023/2413 (REDIII) for certifying compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas saving criteria.
The recognition is awarded for the following scope:
Type of feedstock(s):
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- Ligno-cellulosic (woody) material derived from forest and non-forest land
- Processing residues from forest and agriculture related industries (outside forest and agricultural land)
- Woody post-consumer waste feedstock
Type of fuel(s):
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- Biomass fuels (pellets and wood chips) produced from forest and non-forest ligno-cellulosic material and forest and agriculture related industry processing residues for heat and electricity production
Geographic coverage:
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- Global
Chain of custody coverage:
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- Full biomass supply chain
The assessment results indicate that the SBP scheme meets the existing standards in force on reliability, transparency and independent auditing for demonstrating compliance with Articles 29(3-7) and 29(10) of the Directive. This assessment has taken into consideration the rules set out in Implementing Regulation 2022/996 and Implementing Regulation 2022/2448.
REDIII requirements come into effect on 21 May 2025. All SBP Certificate Holders with EU RED in their certificate scope must update their management systems in line with the SBP EU RED normative documents by that date, and thereafter operate in conformance with the requirements. From 21 May 2025, Certification Bodies will verify conformance during regular audits.
