SBP accepts biomass producers as applicants for certification

Sustainable Biomass Partnership recently announced that five certification bodies have been accepted as applicants and are now able to progress towards achieving SBP-approved status. The applicant certification bodies are: BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and National Science Foundation.

The SBP Framework of standards and processes enables producers of woody biomass to demonstrate that they source their raw material responsibly and that it complies with the legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements applicable to European power generators. It also facilitates the carriage of energy and carbon data along the supply chain to the end-user. Under the SBP Framework the biomass producer, typically a pellet mill, is certified by a SBP-approved certification body and is responsible for ensuring that its feedstock meets the SBP standards.

To become SBP-approved, a certification body must first provide evidence that it meets the SBP requirements regarding its existing accreditations and it must also demonstrate that it has sufficient resources and competence to manage the certification program.

The next step for an applicant certification body is to satisfy SBP of its competence to undertake an audit of a biomass producer against the SBP standards in a real-life situation. The first assessments are expected early next year.

Peter Wilson, executive director of SBP commented: “We have had a lot of interest from certification bodies and are pleased to accept BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and NSF as applicants, and look forward to working with each of them as they progress towards SBP-approved status.”

“This is a significant step in establishing the SBP Framework as the most efficient way for biomass producers to demonstrate they are meeting European legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements, and a milestone in establishing an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable biomass supply chain that contributes to a low-carbon economy.”

SBP is an industry-led initiative formed in 2013 by major European utilities that use biomass, mostly in the form of wood pellets, in large thermal power plants. SBP’s immediate priority is to develop standards and processes allowing companies in the biomass sector to demonstrate compliance with legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements.

SBP is working with accreditation services with the aim of moving to an accreditation system for certification bodies, but this will take time. In the interim, SBP is offering an approval process. 

More information on SBP can be found at www.sustainablebiomasspartnership.org.