Recent Developments in Low iLUC Policies and Certification in the EU Biobased Economy

• Main Authors: Beike Sumfleth, Stefan Majer, Daniela Thrän
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: iLUC; risk; additionality; certification; sustainability; biobased economy
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/19/8147

The development of a sustainable biobased economy (BBE) in Europe is associated with several challenges. Amongst others, lessons learned from the development of the biofuel sector and the complex debate around land use change associated with a growing demand for biomass have to be considered when developing BBE policies. In that regard, strategies to identify and verify feedstocks with low potential risks for direct and indirect land use change (iLUC) impacts are of specific importance. Complementing existing efforts to assess iLUC with modelling activities, the European Commission (EC) has proposed a risk-based approach, aiming to differentiate high and low iLUC risk biomass. Amongst others, different additionality measures can be used to produce certified biomass with low iLUC risk. However, a comprehensive overview and analysis of these additionality measures and the challenges related to their integration in an integer verification approach is still missing. Therefore, we analyse European Union (EU) policies dealing with iLUC, iLUC risk assessment studies, certification approaches, and iLUC modelling studies to identify and develop additionality practices potentially applicable in certification and to show how the potential application of the proposed measures could be realised and verified in practice. We identified five potential practices for low iLUC risk biomass production, which are likely to be used by market actors. For each practice, we identified methods for the determination of low iLUC risk feedstock and products. Finally, our review includes recommendations for follow-up activities towards the actual implementation of additionality measures in biomass certification schemes.