DBC

Dutch Biomass Certification Foundation

Voluntary, emerging program aimed at small forest owners in North America. The stimulation program will run until 2023, when full certification is scheduled to be achieved. Although this is a voluntary initiative, it will be obligatory for participants in Dutch Energy Markets as per the Dutch Energy Agreement.

CSBP

Council for Sustainable Biomass Production

Voluntary standards covering agricultural-based cellulosic bioenergy in the United States.

USDA Organic

United States Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (NOP).

Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods. The organic standards describe the specific requirements that must be verified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent before products can be labeled USDA organic. Overall, organic operations must demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources, conserving biodiversity, and using only approved substances. Currently, organic certification is not used for biomass for bioenergy schemes. However, some organizations are considering whether organic residues can be accepted as in compliance with pesticide use and handling rules without additional paperwork.

BMAS

The Biomass Market Access Standard

Voluntary, certification system covering agriculture-based biomass for bioenergy.

ASTM 3066

Standard Practice for Evaluating Relative Sustainability Involving Energy or Chemicals From Biomass Under Subcommittee E48.80

Voluntary, international standard covering all biomass.

BETO's role and contributions to ASTM 3066: BETO contributions centered on helping partners from industry and other agencies develop and apply this ASTM International standard that facilitates the growth of a sustainable United States bioeconomy. The standard will promote trade in clean, biomass-based products, create clear incentives for more sustainable practices, improve business-to-business communications and reduce transaction costs. This standard was created in response to concerns that existing sustainability standards did not provide adequate guidelines to support fair and consistent comparisons.

RSB

Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials

Voluntary, international standard that contains many component standards for applicability across any bio-based feedstock, biofuel or biomass-derived products or by-products and covers the complete supply chain.

ISO 13065

Sustainability Criteria for Bioenergy

Voluntary, international standard covering the entire supply chain and all forms of bioenergy.

BETO's role and contributions to ISO 13065: BETO contributions centered on helping partners from industry and other agencies develop this international standard by bringing technical expertise in science-based indicators of bioenergy sustainability and scientific approach to indirect effects of bioenergy.

NTA 8080

Netherlands Technical Agreement 8080

Voluntary, global certification system for all biomass for energy purposes as well as to bio-based products, throughout the supply chain.

The Better Biomass Certificate is used by organizations to demonstrate that the biomass they produce, process, trade or use meets well-established international sustainability criteria. These have been defined by a broad group of stakeholders under the guidance of NEN, the Netherlands Standardization Institute, and published in the standard NTA 8080.

GBEP

Global Bioenergy Partnership

Global, voluntary principles and indicators.

This initiative promotes global high-level policy dialogue on bioenergy and international cooperation among other activities. Designed protocols and principles do not constitute a standard or certification. BETO participates in international dialogues on sustainable bioenergy to contribute technical expertise and communicate the United States experience in evaluating and enhancing bioenergy sustainability. BETO has engaged with GBEP and DOE lab staff have assisted as needed with presentations, papers, preparation and review of GBEP materials.

• GBEP Technical Note EN PDF
• GBEP Report On Sustainability Indicators for Bioenergy

IEA

International Energy Agency

IEA provides statistics collection on energy for member countries that supports the World Energy Outlook publication with projections of future scenarios. To do so, the IEA facilitates the development of sector-specific technical documents and roadmaps to enable projections of future scenarios. See relevant IEA reports and links:

• Technology Roadmap Bioenergy for Heat and Power
• Technology Roadmap Biofuels for Transport
• IEA Multilateral Engagement on Clean Energy Technologies
• IEA Technology Collaboration Program (TCP)

IEA Bioenergy

International Energy Agency Bioenergy

The mission of IEA Bioenergy is to increase knowledge and understanding of bioenergy systems in order to facilitate the commercialization and market deployment of environmentally sound, socially acceptable, and cost-competitive bioenergy systems and technologies, and to advise policy and industrial decision makers accordingly. (IEA 2017)

Work is organized under ten task areas such as biogas, climate effects, biomass markets and trade and biomass feedstocks for energy. Intertask projects involve collaborations across the other tasks.

Triennium Intertask: “Measuring, governing and gaining support for sustainable bioenergy supply chains” with three objectives and case studies.

Objective 1: Overview of calculation methods and tools to assess the sustainability of various biomass and bioenergy supply chains and discuss needs, possibilities and limitations of a global, uniform/harmonized framework.

Objective 2: Improving legitimacy of governance systems for sustainable bioenergy.

Objective 3: To understand the positions and underlying motivations of stakeholder groups relative to their perceptions of bioenergy and inform dialogues/discussions to avoid misconceptions about bioenergy.

• Task 37
• Task 38
• Task 40
• Task 43
• Intertask Projects

IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This independent intergovernmental organization has 149 member countries and provides definitions and approaches for related topics such as “Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (GPG-LULUCF)” and GHG accounting. The major role of this organization is policy advice in deployment of renewable energy. It has an independent group set up on costs of technologies with private sector, and supports statistical collection on jobs, technology penetration and outcomes. These are major components of the SE4ALL initiative and so supports the SE4ALL goals through the Renewable Energy Maps. Additional activities include outreach to member countries, often combined with IEA, and specific organization of regional events.

• IPCC - Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

  BETO and DOE lab researchers provide technical support to IRENA in renewables and also bioenergy at their request (review reports, cost, projections, speakers, etc.).

• Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

IRENA

International Renewable Energy Agency

An intergovernmental organization that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a center of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.

ISEAL

International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance

Now just referred to as the ISEAL Alliance, ISEAL encompasses several certification organizations (e.g., FSC). ISEAL represents the movement of credible and innovative sustainability standards. ISEAL's mission is to strengthen sustainability standards for the benefit of people and the environment.

• ISEAL Bulletin
• All ISEAL Bulletins

LCFS - California ARB

California Air Resources Board Low Carbon Fuel Standard

REN21

Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century

“REN21 is the global renewable energy policy multi-stakeholder network” with the goal “to facilitate knowledge exchange, policy development and joint action towards a rapid global transition to renewable energy.” The REN21 network includes 148 countries, industry associations, international organizations (IEA, IRENA, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Global Environment Facility; a variety of NGOs; national governments and representatives of the science and academia. BETO and DOE lab research staff contribute information.

SE4ALL - SBG

The Sustainable Bioenergy Group

SBG is a not-for-profit, voluntary association that promotes sustainable bioenergy, co-chaired by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials. Partners include Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Carbon War Room, KLM, Novozymes and the UN Foundation. The SBG is dedicated to knowledge enhancement and information sharing, policy and sustainability support and deployment support.

SBG fosters public-private partnerships that will encourage the sustainable production and use of:

• Biopower from agriculture residues and municipal solid waste;
• On-farm bioenergy for increased agricultural productivity; and
• Low carbon fuels for aviation and road transport.

SBG implementation example: Partnership “below50” (50% emissions reductions) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) with RSB and SE4ALL for global collaboration to promote the best-of-breed of sustainable fuels that can achieve significant carbon reductions, and scale up their development and use.