SBP extends transition for RED II compliance

Spanish Market: Biomass
19/12/23

The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) certification scheme is extending the transition period to the SBP Standards v2.0 — which introduces full compliance with the EU's renewable energy directive (RED II) for certificate holders — by 12 months to 9 November 2025, it said today.

The transition was originally planned to last 15 months, but "in the light of a number of factors, including feedback received from stakeholders," SBP has decided to extend it by a further 12 months, it said.

This will give certificate holders and certificate bodies sufficient time to take action to implement the new standard "while removing the risk of a cliff-edge that would see certificates cancelled due to non-compliance with v2.0," SBP said. It also noted this should not be seen as an opportunity to delay implementation efforts. The new standard became effective on 10 August 2023.

The SBP said its standards committee gave full consideration to a number of factors ahead of approving the extension. These included the complex nature of the ongoing reviews of the SBP-endorsed regional risk assessments (RRAs) and development of new RRAs, and delays with approvals by regulatory authorities in key jurisdictions. There was also a delay in the publication of the framework for benchmarking and recognising other certification schemes — particularly evaluation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest certification (PEFC). Other factors included the time for SBP's certification bodies to update internal systems and the accreditation body to approve these, and the time required for certificate holders to update their internal systems, and the need to access the full set of documents supporting the SBP Standards v2.0 — particularly those linked to risk mitigation, for instance RRAs, benchmarking and recognition.

The SBP concluded its RED II risk evaluation for both EU and non-EU states, and updated its requirements for Dutch certificate holders in compliance with the Netherland's SDE+ subsidy scheme in November.

Biomass firms have earlier this year voiced concerns over difficulties with reaching RED II-compliance, particularly because of different certification standards and requirements implemented throughout the EU member states.

By Erisa Senerdem

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03/09/26

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Coal India aims to diversify into critical minerals

25/08/26

Coal India aims to diversify into critical minerals

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Germany sends biofuel certificate change proposal to EU

10/08/26

Germany sends biofuel certificate change proposal to EU

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Malaysia’s Taiyo Biomass to launch EFB plant in Sep

05/08/26

Malaysia’s Taiyo Biomass to launch EFB plant in Sep

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Japan's 1.1GW Taketoyo biomass-coal plant to revamp

03/08/26

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