Upcoming revisions to EU RED II

26th November 2020

From mid-2021, the updated EU RED legislation for biofuel exported to Europe will come into force. Bonsucro is already adapting its system to be ready on time.

Our Head of Standards and Innovation, Nicolas Viart, recently attended a webinar hosted by Guidehouse, a consultancy firm working for the EU Commission, where the proposed future for low risk indirect land use change (ILUC) certification for EU RED II biofuel was introduced. From 2030, biofuel made from high ILUC biomass won’t be counted toward the renewable sourcing objectives of EU Member States. Therefore, demonstrating low-ILUC risk status of biofuel production will be needed in order to maintain access to the EU market.

To qualify for low-ILUC risk status, the producers will have to demonstrate what the regulation calls “additionality” which means to show that they implement practices that allow production of additional biomass compared to a baseline. Only the additional biomass can carry the label “low ILUC risk biomass”.

The additionality are either:

  • Increased yield beyond “business as usual” yield increase (call dynamic yield baseline) – a methodology to estimate the additional production is being designed as part of the Regulation documentation.
  • and/or biofuel produced on degraded or abandoned land (five consecutive years without agriculture production – that land will still have to be in compliance with all EU RED sustainability requirements)

If there are demonstrable financial barriers that prevent investment in achieving additional yields, the regulation offers a chance to be exmpt from this requirement. Specific consideration has been taken for smallholder producers.

In the coming month, Bonsucro will work on integrating these new requirements and guidance into our certification system to continue providing to Bonsucro certified producers recognition by the EU Commission and access to the EU market. If you are interested in receiving more information contact Nicolas Viart.