The SUSTCERT4BIOBASED project is dedicated to advancing sustainability certification for industrial biobased systems to ensure a sustainable transition to a circular biobased economy.
A successful transition from linear fossil-based systems to circular biobased systems should secure environmental, social, and economic sustainability. To this end, a plethora of sustainability certification schemes and labels (CSLs) have been developed to allow traceability and transparency of sustainability impacts along value chains and trades, within the EU and globally, for responsible production and consumption. It is essential that there are ways to evaluate the performance of these tools. This is where SUSTCERT4BIOBASED comes into play!
SUSTCERT4BIOBASED is a three-year Horizon Europe project which started in June 2022 and ends in May 2025. The consortium consists of Wageningen Research as the co-ordinator, CIRCE (a research organisation), ECOS (a non-governmental organisation), Control Union (a certification body), and White Research (a consulting agency).
Approach
The approach of SUSTCERT4BIOBASED is shown in Fig. 1. WP1 concerns the identification, review, and analysis of relevant CSLs. This includes sustainability certification schemes for biobased products and materials (ISCC PLUS, RSB Advanced Products, Better Biomass) and for biological feedstock (FSC [wood], Better Cotton [cotton], Bonsucro [sugarcane]) and ecolabels (EU Ecolabel, Nordic Swan Ecolabel). A holistic approach is followed, with equal consideration of all three pillars of sustainability (i.e., environment, social and economic). Additionally, in order to ensure the contribution of biobased products to a circular economy, circularity was included as a fourth dimension. WP2 provides a mapping of the current situation in global trade flows of selected biobased value chains, thereby providing an understanding of the imports into and exports from the EU and their level of certification.
WP3 is focused on the development of a monitoring system by reviewing and building on existing monitoring/benchmarking tools and guidelines. The developed monitoring system is tested on selected CSLs, identifying opportunities for improvement for each CSL. WP4 is focused on the cost and benefit assessment (CBA) of sustainability certification for biobased systems, and includes internalising of externalities (environmental and social costs and benefits). The developed/adapted method is then used in assessing the feasibility of adopting sustainability CSLs in three selected biobased value chains (chemical/plastic, textile, wood).
Subsequently, the results of the project as well as the insights gained along the way are used in deriving recommendations in WP5 for four key target groups: policymakers, scheme and standard owners, industrial biobased value chain actors, and regional bioeconomy actors.
Main outputs
The main outputs from the SUSTCERT4BIOBASED project are listed below:
- Classification of biological resources and biobased products (D1.1)
- Catalogue of sustainability certification schemes and labels for industrial biobased systems (D1.2)
- Identification of the most representative biobased value chains in the EU (D2.1)
- Quantification of global trade flows of selected biobased value chains (D2.2)
- BIOBASEDCERT Monitoring Tool (BMT) (D3.3)
- Testing of the BMT on selected CSLs (D3.2)
- Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) (including internalising of externalities) for sustainability certification (D4.1-D4.4)
- Recommendations to targeted stakeholders (D5.1-D5.5)
Further information on the BMT and CBA is provided below. For further information on the other outcomes, please refer to the associated deliverables (in brackets) from https://sustcert4biobased.eu/resources/deliverables or https://zenodo.org/communities/sustcert4biobasedproject/records.
BIOBASEDCERT Monitoring Tool
Central to our efforts is the development of a monitoring system to assess the effectiveness, robustness, and comprehensiveness of existing CSLs for biobased systems. This concerns CSLs for biobased products and for biological resources intended for industrial biobased value chains.
Instead of a project-specific monitoring system, it was decided to join forces with two other projects funded under the same call, HARMONITOR and STAR4BBS, and develop a joint system called the BIOBASEDCERT Monitoring Tool. The BMT is structured into three levels: system level, content level and outcome level. The system level focuses on CSL system characteristics, such as governance, traceability, and assurance. This level provides an assessment of the robustness of schemes. The content level focuses on the requirements CSLs set for operators seeking certification. This level provides an assessment of the comprehensiveness of the CSL standards. The outcome level focuses on evidence of the performance and impact generated by the implementation of CSL requirements. This level provides an assessment of effectiveness of the schemes.
SUSTCERT4BIOBASED has been leading the development of the content level while collaborating in the development of the system and outcome levels. The content level is categorised into four dimensions: environmental, circularity, social and economic. Under each dimension, a set of principles, criteria and requirements are defined. There is also a high-level requirement demanding CSLs to require operators to comply with laws and regulations. Fig. 2 provides an overview of sustainability principles of the content level.
Each requirement is assigned one of three levels: mandatory, basic, or advanced. Mandatory requirements are expected to be currently covered by schemes. Basic requirements provide more prescriptive details, and advanced requirements are aspirational requirements that were defined to drive continuous improvement. The results of the assessment are displayed as tables, showing the fraction of applicable requirements covered by the assessed CSL for each level and each principle.
The BMT has been optimised using the feedback from testing on selected CSLs, review by certification body experts, and additional stakeholder engagement. The testing of the BMT on selected CSLs in close collaboration with the CSL owners resulted in collection of feedback on the BMT to finetune the requirements and evaluation mechanism. Consulting experts from a certification body aimed at ensuring a balance between practicality and comprehensiveness of the requirements. Furthermore, by engaging with a range of targeted stakeholders through workshops, bilateral meetings, and a survey, the applicability and acceptance of the BMT is improved.
The BMT aims to provide the European Commission with a framework to evaluate the potential of CSLs and accompanying standards to contribute to the objectives and sustainability goals prioritised in relevant EU policies and sustainable development goals (SDGs). Additionally, the BMT supports and incentivises CSL owners to improve their systems by identifying BMT requirements currently not covered in standards and governance processes.
Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)
SUSTCERT4BIOBASED fills the gap in CBA research by incorporating environmental and social externalities into the CBA methodology to provide an understanding of the true economic feasibility of adopting sustainability certification. This proposed new CBA methodology (see Fig. 3) was used in assessing the feasibility of sustainability certification schemes in three biobased value chains (i.e., sugarcane, cotton, wood). Internal and external costs and benefits of certification are considered. Internal costs include costs for compliance, such as training and audit fees, while internal benefits include price premiums and an improved market position. Externalities (environmental and social costs/benefits), which are positive or negative impacts not reflected in transaction prices, are valued using True Cost Accounting. The findings suggest that internal benefits generally outweigh internal costs; however, data limitations have hindered a complete evaluation of externalities. The lack of data is not only due to the perceived sensitivity of the data, thus organisations’ reluctance to share it, but the fact that measuring these externalities is often not required and therefore not measured. Addressing these data limitations is critical to enhance the accuracy of CBAs for biobased value chains. Introducing standardised reporting requirements on key externalities by, for example, policymakers can help tackle this challenge.
Impact and outlook
SUSTCERT4BIOBASED’s consortium has successfully raised awareness among the targeted stakeholders through various channels involving physical events, online co-creation workshops, bi-annual network of interest meetings, information provided on project website and social media posts.
SUSTCERT4BIOBASED has generated significant achievements and a plethora of data, information, methods and tools that can drive further enhancement of sustainability certification of biobased systems.
As the transition toward a circular, biobased economy progresses, the establishment of sustainability criteria for biobased products, that can be defined using the findings of SUSTCERT4BIOBASED, will become increasingly vital to ensure that efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels are also sustainable.
Moreover, the use and recognition of the BMT by the EC would be a significant step to facilitate the potential harmonisation of existing CSLs. This would pave the way for using CSLs in EU co-regulation frameworks to boost the market of sustainability-certified biobased products.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the
author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 22nd edition of our quarterly publication.
