The purpose of this study is to carry out an in-depth analysis of existing biomass production sustainability criteria and certification systems that have been developed and/or proposed by various organizations at European and International level so that the Commission’s Services could come to a clear understanding of the issues involved (such as implications on land use and environmental impacts) as well as eventual solutions.
The study focuses on analyses related to the possible application of an eventual EU based minimum sustainability criteria and certification system taking into account that:
EU proposals for minimum sustainability criteria should not conflict with the EU’s international commitments, especially the GATT under the WTO. Therefore the study excludes traditional agricultural activities on crops for food/fodder production;
The analysis of minimum sustainability criteria will therefore be related to biomass production based on energy crops and forestry operations for use in the EU.
Certification systems should be applied relatively easy and at acceptable costs by the industry.
This study analyses existing voluntary systems and investigates the opportunities and limitations of an eventual EU based system, considering that the application of an EU proposal for minimum sustainability criteria could have a much higher impact than the existing mainly voluntary systems.

By: Biomass Technology Group (BTG)

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