The sustainability of biofuels following the Directive 2009/28/EC (3 posts)

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  • Alessia Vecchiet said 2 years, 9 months ago:

    It is known that since the beginning of 2012 the biofuels in EU should have the certification for being “Sustainable” like required in the EU Directive 2009/28. Sustainable because they have to avoid environmental impact, increases of the price of foodstuffs and loss of the biodiversity. All the biofuels that do not offer the minimal GHGs emissions saving (e.g. 35% at the present time), when their whole LCA is considered compared to petrol or diesel will not be included in the goals and will not grant public aid.
    Sustainable means also the biofuels must not be producted cultivating crops in the following land types:natural forests, protected areas, wetlands and peat bogs.
    How can we assure this certification now? how can we trace the sustainabilty from the imported biofuels from abroad???

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  • Oscar Leòn said 2 years, 9 months ago:

    Dear Alessia,

    we can assure the certification by an external auditor, in the same way than ISO 9000, ISO 14000, and so on. Probably, in a few months or years, a new norm will be developed to include this sustainability certification….. In our case, the EC can send any internal auditor to evaluate and verify the certification…

    On the other hand, the certification for the raw material or bioethanol from third countries outside the European Union will be controlled in the same form (with certifications given by external auditors). But in this case, I think that is less probably that the European Commision sends any auditor to evaluate the certification.

    There isn´t any other alternative…. we can´t send a controller per supplier… isn´t it???

    Best regards.

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  • Alessia Vecchiet said 2 years, 8 months ago:

    dear Oscar,
    of course you are right. We cant’ send a controller per supplier.
    In ITaly we have now a new Interministerial Decree (23rd january 2012) that fixes the sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids and a certificate of guarantee for the sustainability will be required. We will see the concrete results in next months.

    Best regards,
    Alessia

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