November 2015 20151

Bioenergy Days NorwayBarbara Bramble – Chair of the RSB Board of Directors and Senior Advisor, International Wildlife Conservation NWF

Biofuels, Biomass and Bioenergy

• Land use change and conservation of biological diversity

• Water availability

• Invasive species as new energy crops

• Real carbon benefit?

• Social concerns – land and water rights, and others

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Neither good nor bad by category

It all depends – on how and where produced

There are valid concerns – inadequate legislation

Nov 2015

That’s why credible, practical, and affordable certification is crucial

• NWF supports RSB for this purpose.

Food versus Fuel is a Red Herring – Much Too Simplistic #I

3 Nov 2015

• Nature conservation, human habitation, etc.

The real controversy is conflict over LAND and its many uses

Land may be available

• Low productivity/degraded pastures and cropland can be restored

But humans don’t have a good history of using land carefully

• Costs of land restoration often discourage investment

• Native prairies and rangelands are being turned into monocultures

Food versus Fuel is a Red Herring – Much Too Simplistic #II

4 Nov 2015

• Diversify crops and markets

• Give value to cover crops and residues

• Provide non-food, seasonally staggered sources of income

• Provide energy for value-added products (critical for smallholders and local communities)

• Stabilize grain prices – IF mandate for fuels is variable

Food security can be INCREASED via biomass and biofuels

Residues can be Carefully Harvested – but Potential Impacts Remain

5 Nov 2015

• Harvesting during nesting, cutting stubble too short, chemicals

Forestry and agriculture residue harvests should protect wildlife and habitat from

Soil structure and carbon should be conserved

• How much residue should be left on the land?

Use of cover crops and no till practices could maximize carbon retention

• But most farmers don’t use these yet

• Rules for these are uncertain/uneven

Biomass for Energy –More Controversies

6 Nov 2015

• Habitat loss – Bottomland Hardwoods and Longleaf Pine chipped up/for co-firing with coal

• Whole trees – carbon debt for decades masquerading as ‘carbon neutral’ (during precisely the near-term period where emissions must come down)

• Large scale power plants – may depend on huge “woodsheds” that exceed local residue capacity

Threats

• Small diameter – use only thinnings and residues for energy/fuel

• Allow long-lived trees to continue sequestration until harvested for long-lived uses – housing, furniture, certain plastics

• Good forest management – FSC standard is RSB selection

Solutions

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials

7 Nov 2015

Started in 2007 at EPFL: WEF, UNCTAD, UNEP, Toyota, Shell, Petrobras, NWF, AdT, WWF

The RSB was conceived in controversy, but produced a consensus

RSB Stakeholders

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120+ organizations from 30 countries including 30 NGOs

24/06/2015

7 RSB Chambers

Farmers

Producers

End-users, blenders,

investors

Trade Unions

UN, government, research

Rural Development NGOs

Environment NGOs

RSB Principles and Criteria

10 Nov 2015

Management and technical

Legal

Legality

Land rights

Social

Human andLabor Rights

Rural andSocial

Development

Local FoodSecurity

Environmental

Biodiversity Conservation

Soil

Water/rights

Air

Planning, Monitoring and

Continuous Improvement

Use of Technology, Inputs, and

Management of Waste

GHG emissions

Standard for Agricultural and other Residues

Specific standard on residues and byproducts

• Including used cooking oil, animal fats, stalks/leaves, stover (corn stalks)

• Municipal solid waste, forestry operations

Upstream verification for agricultural residues

• Ensure enough residues to maintain soil organic matter

• GHG emissions limited to transport and conversion to fuel

• Direct land-use change

• Specific requirements for palm oil and tallow.

Food Security and Rural Development

• Food Security - areas prone tofood insecurity (Global HungerIndex) should demonstrateimproved food security.www.ifpri.org/topic/global-hunger-index

• Rural Development - In areas ofpoverty should demonstrateimprovement of livelihoods.

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Diversity of Feedstocks & Products

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Scope – Includes Bioenergy & Biomaterials

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• Bio-chemicals

• Bioenergy

• Bio-plastics & Biopackaging

• Fiber & Lubricants

• Food additives

• …

Nov 2015

RSB Approach to ILUC –Low Risk Biomass

15 Nov 2015

Problem: Indirect impacts occur when land or raw materials are switched from traditional use as food/feed/fiber to a new use – for bioenergy or biomaterials.

One result may be that the market demands replacement products, which raises the price and induces invasion of additional production areas - the famous “Indirect Land Use Change.”

RSB’s Solution: The Low Risk Biomass Approach

• Developed jointly with WWF International and Ecofys

• Encourages biomass production/processing which decreases the risk of displacement and competition with the food, feed and fiber sectors

• Designed as a built-in complementary module for RSB-certified companies who wish to demonstrate a low risk of creating indirect impacts.

• RSB first sustainability certification system to develop a Low ILUC Standard for projects which demonstrate that they have no impact on food production.

• Based on LIIB Methodology developed by EPFL, WWF and Ecofys.

• Covers intercropping, yield increase, under-used land and waste materials so far.

ILUC and Food Security

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Low ILUC Risk

17 Nov 2015

1. Yield increase beyond the baseline or double cropping/no additional land conversion

2. Unused or degraded land restoration/avoid shifting cultivation and saves natural habitats

3. Wastes and residues/not requiring dedicated production from arable land

3 scenarios

• Facilitating Market Access

• Recognizes that smallholders lack documentation & need more time to achieve compliance – staged process

• Smallholders are usually

compliant with the social

requirements of the Standard

• A group structure is the best way for smallholders to manage certification.

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Smallholder Standard

Current RSB Smallholder Projects

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• Macaúba palm oil - Montes Claros

region, Minas Gerais

• Collaboration with Federal University

of Minas Gerais

• South Africa – energy tobacco,

Limpopo Region – oil and biomass

• South African Airways, Solaris,

SunChem, SkyNRG

• Sri Lanka - Gliricidia – pellets

• 30,000 small farmers in group

certification

Nov 2015

Facilitating Improved Livelihoods

• Sustainable Energy 4 ALL:

• UN / World Bank Initiative – one of the

Sustainable Development Goals

• RSB and FAO Co-Chair of Sustainable

Bioenergy

•

• Demonstration ground for

Smallholder projects

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• Recognized under EU Renewable Energy Directive

• Influence on policy development:

• Mexico

• New South Wales

• Mozambique

• Brazil

• California

• China

• Thailand, Mali, Cameroon

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Policy and Regulations

Benchmarking and Gap analysis for Certification Efficiency

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• Allows an operation with another robust certification to win RSB

certification with simple process (as long as both systems are

members of ISEAL Alliance)

• RSB has additional requirements for “Food Security;” “Water

Rights;” “Rural and Social Develepment;” and specifics for GHG.

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

• BONSUCRO

• RSPO

• Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN)

• Joint certifications could lower costs considerably.

Nov 2015

• SAFUG:

• Formed in September 2008; Active RSB Member

• Pledge to support verifiable sustainability metrics consistent with the RSB Principles & Criteria; 32 % of jet fuel demand

• IATA, Airbus, SkyNRG, South African Airways: Active RSB Members

• Boeing: smallholder programme

• ITAKA Project in EU: promotes RSB certification

• Commercial flights: KLM (2013)

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RSB In Aviation

Aviation Industry Works with RSB

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• Global best practice – available

around the world, for multiple

feedstocks; complementary to

national schemes

• Independent 3rd Party Audits

provide assurance of meeting

standards – such as food security,

biodiversity, land and water rights

• Promotion of Smallholder production

• RSB is leading a process of

benchmarking with other credible

standards

Nov 2015

Achieving ImpactSouth Africa/SAA

• Energy tobacco - ‘Solaris’ -

Marble Hall, Limpopo Region

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« RSB Implementation Support »A programme to support companies on their way to real

sustainable practices

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To participate in the programme «toward implementation»companies• publish a commitmentto implement the RSB Sustainability Standard in a defined timeframe• allocate resources• develop a concrete and

detailed work plan

Commitment

The RSB Secretariat and its extensive network of sustainability experts• share in-depth knowledge (training) and

• provide hands-on support (consultancy)

to help the companies «on the road to RSB implementation»

Support• Companies «on the road

to implementation» publish Annual Reports (activities carried out to implement the RSB, improvements achieved, confirm timeline, etc.)

• Stakeholders comment to help companies to determine further areas of improvement.

ContinuousImprovement

Final Message –Do More than One Thing at a Time

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• Waste treatment service – and get fuel• MSW/Sewage/Algae-choked lakes

• Restore land to productivity – and gain fuel

• Cover crops and intercropping – several crops from the same land

• Numerous ways to produce food and fuel from the same land and resources

• Moderate intensification of cattle and sugarcane in Sao Paulo, Brazil

So many smart projects solve more than one problem

RSB recognizes these projects

Thank you!

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Barbara Bramble, Chair of the Board

bramble@nwf.org; +1 202 262 8236

Matt Rudolf, Director of Business Development

matthew.rudolf@rsb.org

http://www.rsb.org

05/08/2015