Symposium

Title:  Ensuring a Green Recovery: Biomass Certification Schemes from Both Sides of the Atlantic

Organizer:  Mandy Ma, Transatlantic Fellow, Ecologic Institute - Berlin: www.ecologic.eu 
              -Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation

Moderator:  Stephanie Schlegel, Fellow and Coordinator of Agriculture & Bioenergy, Ecologic Institute - Berlin

Discussants:

1.   A. G. Kawamura, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture

2.   Jessica Löhndorf, Fellow, Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Ministry for the Environment    
              -Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation 

3.   Lucia Muñoz, Argentina Representative, International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, Consultant,  Meó Consulting 
              -Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation 

4.   Professor Benjamin Cashore,  School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University  
              -Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation

Session Goals:

1. Facilitate the sharing of ideas and lessons related to certifying renewable energy between the U.S. and Germany.
2. Establish the importance of certification in building a new, green economy.
3. Advance discussion about establishing international standards.
4. Inform the audience of the issues surrounding the development of certification standards.

Summary:

Over the past six months, governments around the world have appropriated over $430 billion from national stimulus packages into environmentally friendly, green investments. In the U.S. alone, the green stimulus share amounts to more than $94 billion, with a significant portion providing a boost to the renewable energy sector.

Even before the introduction of the green stimulus packages, the consumption of renewable energy has been increasing rapidly due to concerns over dependency on energy sources located in unstable regions, climate change and the consequent search for a low-carbon alternative to conventional energy sources. In the U.S., 27 states have mandatory or voluntary renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and another 13 are considering the creation of an RPS. Additionally, legislation was introduced earlier this year to create a federal RPS and the Obama administration has pledged to spend $150 billion over the next decade on clean energy and to double renewable energy over the next three years.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Europe adopted a Renewable Energy Directive, with a commitment to source 20% of their energy needs from renewable energies. Germany, which has been a pioneer in developing renewable energy policy with generous feed-in tariffs and a biofuels quota, will be the first EU Member State to implement the Renewable Energy Directive in January 2010.

An increase in biomass consumption has been and will undoubtedly continue to be a part of the rising renewable energy consumption. Fuels derived from biomass, have been blamed for contributing to increased food costs and carbon emissions through land-use change and deforestation. Although advancements have been made in second and third generation biofuels, which utilize non-food crops, crop residue and algae, dedicated bioenergy crops, with all of their social and environmental issues, remain a significant portion of the bioenergy mix.

Given all of the money flowing into renewable energy technologies, the adoption of policies guaranteeing their expansion, and the fact that the large-scale production of bioenergy creates the potential for environmentally destructive practices with negative social impacts, there is a need to guarantee that the bioenergy sources are produced in a sustainable manner. There are already a number of certification schemes in place, but there are no globally accepted standards and the current range of certification schemes, each with their own criteria and definitions, make it difficult to identify producers who are truly sustainable and those who are just green-washing. In the absence of globally recognized standards, California and Germany are in the process of developing sustainability criteria for biomass sources in anticipation of the implementation of AB 118 (California Alternative and Renewable Fuel Program) and the European Renewable Energy Directive. 

The proposed symposium would bring together policymakers from California and Germany to discuss and share their experiences in developing sustainability standards for bioenergy generation. Experts from certifying bodies would also be included to shed light on the global and technical aspects of certification. Speakers would focus on the process of developing certification standards, challenges faced, lessons learned, the possibility of developing internationally recognized standards, as well as the economic impact of certification, market accessibility for producers, and the transferability of principles to other (renewable resource based) sectors. The symposium will contribute towards a “green print” for ensuring that the new green economy is based on sustainable and renewable energy.