SBP accepts certification bodies as applicants

The Sustainable Biomass Partnership (SBP) has announced that five certification bodies have been accepted as applicants and are now able to progress towards achieving SBP-approved status. These applicant certification bodies are BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and NSF.

The SBP framework of standards and processes enables producers of woody biomass to demonstrate that they source their raw material responsibly and that it complies with the legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements applicable to Europe power generators. It also facilities the carriage of energy and carbon data along the supply chain to the end user. Under the framework the biomass producer, typically a pellet mill, is certified by a SBP-approved certification body and is responsible for ensuring that its feedstock meets the SBP standards.

To become SBP-approved, a certification body must first provide evidence that it meets the SBP requirements regarding its existing accreditations and it must also demonstrate that it has sufficient resources and competence to manage the certification programme.

The next step for an applicant certification body is to satisfy SBP of its competence to undertake an audit of a biomass producer against the SBP standards in a real-life situation. The first assessments are expected in early 2015.

Peter Wilson, executive director of SBP, says: 'We have had a lot of interest from certification bodies and are pleased to accept BM Trada, Bureau Veritas Latvia, Control Union, NEPCon and NSF as applicants. This is a significant step in establishing the SBP framework as the most efficient way for biomass producers to demonstrate they are meeting European legal, regulatory and sustainability requirements, and a milestone is establishing an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable biomass supply chain that contributes to a low carbon economy.'