First EU sustainability schemes for biofuels recognized

The European Commission has recognized seven voluntary schemes for sustainability criteria for biofuels. These voluntary schemes, that verify where and how the biofuels are produced, adequately cover the sustainability requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and can therefore be used by all 27 Member States to comply to the RED.

The EU has set itself an objective to achieve a minimum share of 10% renewable energy in transport by 2020. Where biofuels are used to achieve this target, these must meet a set of sustainability requirements. The Commission has thoroughly checked several schemes against the sustainability requirements and is satisfied that seven schemes are recognized for five years:

• ISCC (German (government financed) scheme covering all types of biofuels)
• Bonsucro EU (Roundtable initiative for sugarcane based biofuels, focus on Brazil)
• RTRS EU RED (Roundtable initiative for soy based biofuels, focus on Argentina and Brazil)
• RSB EU RED (Roundtable initiative covering all types of biofuels)
• 2BSvs (French industry scheme covering all types of biofuels)
• RSBA (Industry scheme for Abengoa covering their supply chain)
• Greenergy (Industry scheme for Greenergy covering sugar cane ethanol from Brazil)
   

The Commission is currently discussing with other voluntary schemes, such as the Dutch NTA8080, how these can also improve their standard in order to meet the sustainability requirements for biofuels.

More information can be found on the website of the European Commission (direct link).