International Workshop:“Sustainability certification for biofuels and bioenergy"

Workshop organised by VITO with IEA Bioenergy Task 40
Supported by VEA (Flemish Energy Agency)

Brussels, 29-30 January 2009. Please download the full program [83 KB] a

Introduction

Biofuels and bio-energy play an increasing role in the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction of our energy dependency on fossil fuels. Part of the biomass needs to be imported from regions all over the world. Although biomass has a ‘green’ image, an increasing concern arises about the sustainability of produced biomass, e.g. including impacts on biodiversity, displacement of food production, but also the effectiveness in greenhouse gas reduction. Various stakeholders, like energy and fuel producing companies, end-users, investors, certifiers, governments and NGOs, therefore ask for sustainability criteria to safeguard sustainability issues and guide their business. In the future, sustainability would give them the licence to produce biomass; political and social support for biofuels and bio-energy will depend on the proof of their sustainability.

Various initiatives exist to develop sustainability certification schemes for biofuels and bio-energy. European initiatives in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden have pioneered towards implementation of sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioenergy. Moreover on global level the awareness of sustainability requirements for biomass production is growing. In January 2008, a draft was proposed for the European Renewable Energy Directive, including requirements that biofuels should deliver a minimum level of greenhouse gas savings, should not be produced from raw material cultivated on land converted from high-carbon-stock or high-biodiversity uses, and should comply with EU environmental requirements for agriculture where applicable. Discussions about inclusion of other criteria is on-going. In any case the adoption of the Directive will be a major step for the market.

The workshop gave an opportunity to learn more about various initiatives, not only in Europe but also globally. Focus of the discussions was the actual implementation of sustainability schemes and criteria in practise, and the implications for energy and biomass producers. Target audience were biomass producers and traders, fuel and energy producers and other stakeholders involved in biofuels and bioenergy, like governments, NGOs and researchers.

Presentations:

Sustainability requirements in the Renewable Energy Directive [132 KB]
Ariane de Dominicis, European Commission, DG Environment

First implementations of sustainability schemes in European countries [2,153 KB]
Florence Van Stappen, Walloon Agricultural Research Centre (BE)

Initiatives toward sustainability of biofuels production in Brazil [681 KB]
Arnaldo Walter, University of Campinas (BR)

New US Environmental Protection Agency rules for biofuel production [278 KB]
Richard Nelson, Kansas State University (USA)

Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels [287 KB]
Maryline Guiramard, Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (CH)

Greenhouse gas calculation methods [229 KB]
Jinke van Dam, Copernicus Institute (NL)

The role of indirect land use change in the greenhouse gas balance [126 KB]
Uwe Fritsche, Öko-Institut (GE) (note that Uwe Fritsche coudl unfortunately not be present at the meeting himself. Parts of the presentation were shown by Jinke van Dam).

Prospective Environmental Assessment of Harvest Residues for Energy in Canada [1,054 KB]
Evelyne Thiffault, Canadian Forest Service (CA)
Douglas Bradley, Canadian Bioenergy Association (CA)

Towards integrated sustainability assessment forenergetic use of biomass [407 KB]
Veerle Buytaert, VITO (B)

Standardization and certification of sustainable biomass in the Netherlands [162 KB]
Ella Lammers, SenterNovem (NL)

Experience on certification of imported biomass pellets [1,916 KB]
Yves Ryckmans, Laborelec (BE)

Sustainability certification on the field [1,749 KB]
Kris Truyens, SGS (BE)