BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsbeslutningen)

(1) Directive (EU) 2018/2001 lays down requirements for certain fuels, namely biofuels, bioliquids, biomass fuels, renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of nonbiological origin and recycled carbon fuels to ensure that they can only be counted towards the targets set in that Directive if they have been sustainably produced and save significant greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. Article 29 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 lays down sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. Furthermore, Article 26 of that Directive and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 of 13 March 2019 lay down the criteria to determine: (i) which feedstock for biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels has high indirect land-use change risk; and (ii) which high indirect land-use change-risk biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels that meet certain conditions can be certified as having low indirect land-use change risk. Article 29a(1) and (2) of the Directive lay down greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria for renewable fuels of non-biological origin and for recycled carbon fuels. Article 31a (2) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 requires economic operators to enter information in a Union database on the transactions made and on the sustainability characteristics of liquid and gaseous renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels. 

(2) Voluntary schemes play an important role in providing evidence of compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. Under Directive (EU) 2018/2001, voluntary schemes can be used, among other purposes, to: (i) certify the compliance of all fuels produced from biomass with the sustainability criteria laid down in that Directive; and (ii) provide accurate data on their greenhouse gas emissions savings. Voluntary schemes can also be used to prove that economic operators enter accurate information into the Union or national database on renewable fuels and recycled carbon fuels in accordance with Article 31a(2) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. The Commission may decide that voluntary national or international schemes can serve all or some of these purposes. 

(3) On 15 October 2020, the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme submitted a request to the Commission for recognition pursuant to Article 30(4) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. The Commission assessed the scheme and identified some issues requiring amendment. The ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme re-submitted its request on 2 December 2021, addressing the identified issues. In response, the Commission adopted Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1657, recognising the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme as demonstrating compliance with the requirements in Article 29(6), (7) and (10) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. 

(4) The ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme made further amendments to ensure that it also covered compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria for agricultural residues from agricultural land. After further amendments, in its resubmission of 18 December 2023, woody agricultural residues from agricultural lands were also covered by the scheme. Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1657 should therefore be repealed and replaced by this Decision. 

(5) The ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme covers the following types of feedstock(s): (a) ligno-cellulosic material derived from forest and non-forest land; (b) processing residues from forest and agriculture-related industries (outside forest and agricultural land); and (c) woody agricultural residues from agricultural land. Non-woody agricultural residues from agricultural land are excluded. The ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme covers biomass fuels (pellets and wood chips) produced from forest and non-forest lignocellulosic material and forest and agriculture-related industry processing residues for heat and electricity production. ‘Bioliquids’, ‘biofuels’, ‘biogas’, ‘renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin’ and ‘recycled carbon fuels’ are outside the scope of the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme. That scheme has a global geographic coverage and encompasses the entire chain of custody. 

(6) In reassessing the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme, the Commission found that it adequately covered the sustainability criteria in Article 29(6) and (7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. It was also found that, for woody agricultural residues from agricultural land, the scheme adequately covered the sustainability criteria in Article 29(2) to (5) of that Directive. The scheme contains accurate data on greenhouse gas emissions savings for the purposes of Article 29(10) of that Directive and applies a mass balance methodology in accordance with the requirements of its Article 30(1) and (2). 

(7) The ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme is found to adequately comply with the rules included in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996. 

(8) The scheme has also been found to comply with the rules included in Implementing Regulation 2022/2448. 

(9) The reassessment of the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme found that it met adequate standards of reliability, transparency and independent auditing and complied with the methodological requirements set out in Annex VI to Directive (EU) 2018/2001. 

(10) The information that the ‘Sustainable Biomass Program’ voluntary scheme has been recognised should be made available in the section on the Commission’s Europa website devoted to voluntary schemes. 

(11) To allow for prompt application of the measures provided for herein, this Decision should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. 

(12) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids and Biomass fuels,