The Prospects for Solid Biomass Certification forSustainability, presented at the 2nd Heat and Power Conference in Brussels in October 2010

1. The Prospects for Solid
Biomass Certification for
Sustainability
2nd Biomass for Heat and Power 2010
Brussels, Belgium

2. Index
 Sustainability of bioenergy and solid biomass: the
current context;
 Recent initiatives in certification of bioenergy, and
specifically solid biomass;
 Overcoming the challenges;
 Implications for trade;
 Recommendations and conclusions.

3. Why bioenergy?
 Tackle climate change and reducing GHG emissions;
 Energy security (less dependence)
 Rural development and development of the agricultural
sector;
 Employment generation

4. Sustainability of bioenergy
Bioenergy – especially 1st generation biofuels – has been
heavily criticized last years.
 Critics on sustainability problems include:
 GHG balances not OK
 Endless subsidies needed
 Land and water constrain bioenergy to marginal levels;
 Increased food prices are not good for farmers

5. Sustainability of solid biomass:
Current situation (1)
 Biomass = 5% of total final energy consumption;
 Less than 5% solid/ gaseous biomass is imported to EU
(for electricity, heating and cooling).
 Many small sized energy-producers in the EU(~48,000
above 1MW)
 EU forestry and agriculture and waste management
subject to environmental rules at national / EU level and
voluntary schemes;
 Solid biomass / biogas: High GHG savings;

6. Sustainability of solid biomass:
Current situation (2)
 Solid biomass and pellets are increasingly traded and
imported to EU;
 Imported solid biomass from outside the EU might show
significant sustainability issues: (Central Africa, Brazil,
Indonesia, ...) and contribute to deforestation;
 Solid biomass as feedstock for heat and power may
originate soon from the same feedstock as the biofuel,
considering the expected development and deployment
of 2nd generation biofuels.

7. Trading routes of wood pellets:
© EUBIONET III Project

8. How can sustainability of bioenergy be
guaranteed OR promoted?
Various approaches are possible:
Voluntary (Combined
Regulations
certification with) policy
systems *
National
Market
parties NGOs Government
International

9. When will certification take off in
bioenergy market?
 Now! Ongoing developments on policy, company and
NGO level….;
 Recent overview has included 67 initiatives worldwide,
from which 37 for bioenergy;
 In addition, various initiatives for development GHG and
ILUC methodology;
 Some of them include legislation to restrict
unsustainable use of bioenergy.
© Dam et al, 2010

10. Key characteristics of initiatives and
certification systems on biomass and
bioenergy certification in overview….
Includ
e s gree
n elec
tricity
l abels!
© Dam et al, 2010

11. Initiatives to guarantee certification of
solid biomass:
 Recent (government) initiatives have their main focus on
the development of sustainability criteria for
 Biofuels;
 Initiatives focused on solid biomass and bioenergy for
heat and power are (still) limited;
Some examples follow…..
© Dam et al, 2010

12. European Commission (1):
Report COM (2010)11:
 No binding EU scheme:
o Production: Existing EU legislation + low imports;
o GHG: normally high savings;
o Efficiency: for all energy resources
 Cost of meeting sustainability criteria can be high;
 National schemes can be developed but with
international market and renewable energy targets in
mind;
 Commission recommendations for criteria

13. European Commission (2):
Report recommended criteria:
No criteria for wastes and criteria to apply to 1MW+
plants
 Common GHG methodology;
 Minimum requirement for GHG saving, relative to
fossil fuel of at least 35%, 50% in 2017 (60% for new
installations);
 No conversion of highly biodiverse and high carbon
stock land;
 ‘Cross-compliance’ rules in the EU’s common
agricultural policy to apply;
 Member states to support efficient uses of biomass.

14. European Commission (3):
Next steps:
 Some MS will develop national schemes –
Commission encourages harmonious development;
 Study on developments of national schemes impacts
on internal market;
 Commission evaluation to see national policies and
measures for biomass promotion;
 Commission will review in 2011 whether further
measures are needed to ensure sustainability.

15. Communication Benelux MS (2009):
Joint position Paper:
 A European framework for sustainability criteria will be
the most effective way of ensuring that imported
biomass originates from sources that are both
sustainable and stable;
 A European framework will make it easier for MS to
reach their 2020 targets by enhancing the efficient
functioning of the internal market for biomass and by
guaranteeing stable and sustainable supply chains.
 A harmonized system will also facilitate sustainable
export by member States of their own indigenous
biomass products.
© Dam et al, 2010

16. Initiatives from individual Member States:
Examples:
 Belgium: electricity sales submitted to a renewable
obligation of 6% RES by 2010 in the frame of targeted green
certificate systems. The system in Wallonia and in the
Brussels region is based upon avoided CO2 emissions;
 Netherlands: The Dutch standard NTA808 includes
sustainability criteria for biomass and bioenergy for heat and
power;
 Germany: Biomass Sustainability Ordinance for the
Electricity Sector is designed to grant feed-in-tariffs for
electricity production from liquid biomass on the basis of the
EC-RED Directive requirements.
© Dam et al, 2010

17. Initiatives from companies:
Examples business-to-business standards:
 Drax: sustainability principles for biomass, until
delivery at the end-user, for power generation in the UK
 Green Gold Label: traceable system for biomass from
(by-) products from the power plant (and its green
power it produces) back to the sustainable source;
 Electrabel/Laborelec: implements, amongst other
sustainability principles, the energy and CO2 balance of
the supply chain including electricity use, fossil primary
energy use and transport
© Dam et al, 2010

18. Initiatives from stakeholder initiatives:
Examples:
 ISCC: an international certification system to
guarantee the sustainability of bioenergy. ISCC
includes 10 sustainability principles;
 GBEP: aims to develop a set of global science-based
criteria and indicators, which are intended to guide any
analysis undertaken of bioenergy at the national level;
 ISO and CENTC/383: Project committee on
‘‘Standardization in the field of sustainability criteria for
production, supply chain and application of bioenergy’’.
© Dam et al, 2010

19. Overcoming the challenges (1):
Initiatives highly appreciated but harmonization
required!
© Dam et al, 2010

20. Overcoming the challenges (2):
Example
for
required
harmoniza3on:
Iden3fied
parameters
for
analysis
water
quality
and
quan3ty
for
selected
standards:
© Dam et al, 2010

21. Overcoming the challenges (3):
Still methodological issues to be resolved.
Some of the examples are:
 New issues solid biomass related to sustainable forest
management: stump extraction, climate mitigation;
 Regional differences (e.g. forest management in
Sweden or in tropical countries as Brazil);
 Avoiding negative impacts of indirect land use change
 Sustainability impacts on micro-, regional and (inter-)
national level (example follows);
© Dam et al, 2010

22. Example of one of the methodological issues:
Sustainability impacts on micro-, regional and (inter-)
national level

23. Implications on trade:
Overview of main barriers to overcome for
increased utilization and trade of solid biomass
fuels by traders in different EU countries:
© EUBIONET III Project

24. Indicated implications current certification
initiatives on trade: an opportunity or
obstacle (1)?
Uneven level playing field and future uncertainties…
 No certification system yet in place for some biomass
streams (limits expansion in trade);
 Uneven level playing field in Europe because of
different (obligatory) requirements per country;
 Uncertainties about sustainability requirements: What
to expect and when…
 Proliferation of standards creates market confusion and
risk for shopping between standards;
 Proliferation of standards with different demands
creates different market playing fields.
© Junginger et al, 2010, Dam et al, 2010

25. Indicated implications current certification
initiatives on trade: an opportunity or
obstacle (2)?
Possible impacts related to costs and strictness:
 Criteria, especially related to environmental and social
issues, could be too stringent or inappropriate for the
local context;
 Risk for (too) high costs for implementing measures to
meet the sustainability criteria
 Costs for monitoring and certification of the biomass
produced may also worsen the economic
competitiveness.
© Junginger et al, 2010, Dam et al, 2010

26. Possible impacts on trade (3):
Also opportunities!
 Separates the “good” from the “bad”
 Avoiding negative publicity (also from general public
and NGOs)
Advantages front-runners in current developments:
 Pro active (not reactive)
 Track and trace system already established
 Smooth transition to meet policy requirements
© Junginger et al, 2010, Dam et
al, 2010

27. EU Survey questionnaire indicates for trade:
A biomass and bioenergy certification system will
contribute to…..
te d
o ne xp e c
n dents
er respo rade
tie s und cts on t
U nc ertain impa
* Based on 288 responses from 25 European countries and 9 non-European countries, EUBIONET III project

28. Conclusions and recommendations (1):
Where are we now:
 Limited developments certification solid biomass
compared to initiatives for biofuels;
 Current sustainability initiatives for solid biomass
mainly developed in European region;
 Opinions on need (obligatory) system in Europe for
solid biomass are divided;
 This leads to uncertainties in the market and an un-
even level playing field….

29. Conclusions and recommendations (2):
Recommendations
 Given developments in trade and technologies of solid
biomass, the need to guarantee its sustainability is
expected to increase;
 To be ahead of critics and negative publicity, it can be
recommended to prepare in time a reliable and efficient
system for solid biomass..
 …. also given the methodological challenges to be
resolved (see experiences from biofuels);
 Addressing unwanted sustainability impacts requires
first of all sustainable land use production and good
governance, regardless of the end-use of the product.

30. Thank you for your attention?
Questions?
Jinke van Dam Consultancy
Associate from SQ Consult
E: jinke@jvdconsultancy.com / j.vandam@sqconsult.com
Skype: jinkevandam
More information on: www.jvdconsultancy.com or www.sqconsult.com