The BIOBASEDCERT Research Cluster organized two back-to back events on the 4th of December 2024 in Brussels. The morning event was the third meeting of the Roundtable for Certification Schemes. The event brought together policy makers and certification schemes to discuss the evolving role of certification in the EU Bioeconomy. The afternoon event was a workshop for policymakers. The event delved into the BIOBASEDCERT Monitoring Tool (BMT) and its potential to support the EU bioeconomy policy framework.
Key take-aways from Roundtable meeting:
The bioeconomy is a key element in driving the green transition and supporting the defossilization of the EU economy. T A robust and well-defined policy framework is essential to ensure sustainable management of carbon sources, balancing the growing demand for land and biomass, and promote responsible resource use to meet environmental and economic goals.
Sustainability certification schemes provide comprehensive frameworks to ensure sustainable production practices across social, economic, and environmental dimensions in various sectors of the bioeconomy. While their rapid development in recent years was largely driven by regulatory requirements, the growing demand for sustainable biomass and products is also expanding into unregulated markets.
The further development of policy requirements for a sustainable bioeconomy presents several challenges. On one hand, it is essential to account for existing requirements and advancements in sectors such as bioenergy while addressing the evolving needs of other sectors. On the other hand, ensuring stakeholder participation and acceptance is critical for the successful implementation of new policy measures.
Established sustainability certification schemes can play a key role in supporting the development and implementation of policy frameworks by acting as a bridge between policymakers at both European and national levels and market actors. Independent institutions, such as NGOs and ISEAL, can contribute defining best practices and driving innovation..
Further dialogue among EU and national policymakers, certification schemes, and NGOs is crucial to advance a sustainable bioeconomy. Platforms like the Roundtable for certification schemes provide a neutral space for effective communication and collaboration.
Key take-aways from BMT session:
While currently there is no EU regulation specific to biobased products that recognises a role for voluntary sustainability certification schemes, the BMT could support legislation by identifying suitable certification schemes for regulatory alignment. Best practices from legislation in other areas (e.g. Green Claims, renewable energy, timber), should be considered. This tool could help with the implementation of regulation for biobased products by showing which certification schemes could be recognized for this purpose.
Participants also pointed out other potential applications of the BMT:
o Measuring progress toward objectives
o Informing public procurers
o Harmonisation of scheme assessment methodologies
o Support competitiveness of certification schemes and labels
o Reduce the burden of verification by EU Member States in those cases where sustainability requirements exist
Certification schemes vary in scope, the BMT was designed to accommodate those differences.
The BMT can help certification schemes strengthen the way they address circularity, a growing priority currently not well-covered by present requirements.
Minimum biobased content, this is a separate concept with own instruments on assessment. However, relevant for defining what is considered to be a biobased product to be analysed with the BMT.
The EC cannot mandate the use of a certain tool but can offer it as an option/solution.
Each certification schemes has its own cycle and proceeds to review, re-evaluate and update in this timeline.
Participants acknowledged that the results of the benchmark should be presented in a way that satisfies the needs of the user audience, which will in turn depend on what they are using the tool for. No concerns were raised during the meeting with the proposed visualisations.
Way forward:
Your input matters: a questionnaire for collecting feedback on our tool will be sent to you in March.
An additional workshop (fully online) will be organized in February / March 2025.
Save-the-date: the BIOBASEDCERT Research Cluster invites you to the final conference on May 13th and 14th in Brussels.
Agendas
Agenda morning session:
9:30 – Opening and Welcome Address (Stefania Rocca – REA and Stefan Majer – DBFZ)
Overview of the event’s objectives and importance of certification in bioeconomy governance.
9:40 – Tour de Table
Participant introductions
9:50 – Keynote 1: ” The Bioeconomy in the Near Future” (Adrian Leip – DG RTD)
10:10 – Open Discussion based on Keynote and Guiding Questions
Dialogue on how certification schemes can support emerging regulatory needs.
10:45 – Summary of Discussion
11:50 – An introduction to the BIOBASEDCERT Monitoring ToolSystem (BMTS) (Iris Vural Gursel, WR)
11:00 – Break
11:10 – Keynote 2: “The Role of Certification – Possibilities and Limitations” – (Maira Devisscher – ISEAL)
11:25 – Open Discussion
Exploration of certification’s strengths, challenges, and potential enhancements.
11:50 – Summary and Outlook to the Next Roundtable
Agenda afternoon session:
13:10 – 13-25 – The value of monitoring tools for sustainability certification (Silvia Maltagliati – DG RTD; Sergio Ugarte – SQ Consult)
13:25 – 13:45– The BMTS levels and how they were developed (Iris Vural Gursel -WR, Nikola Matovic – TU Berlin, Laura Väyrynen – ECOS, Maulidia Khairani – UU)
13:45 – 14-15 – Open discussion on the potential uses of the BMTS (moderated by Martin Junginger – UU)
14:15 – 14-50 – Consultation on the presentation of the BMTS results (Maira Devisscher – ISEAL)
14:50 – 15:00 Final remarks and way forward (Luana Ladu – TU Berlin).

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