Sustainable Biomass Program publishes annual review for 2022

The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has published its annual review for 2022. The review is available at: www.sbp-cert.org/documents/annual-reviews.

Commenting on the events of 2022, Carsten Huljus, SBP chief executive officer, said: “The end of the year marked the end of our three-year strategy, which commenced in 2020. Through the delivery of our strategic aims we have positioned SBP as the woody biomass certification scheme of choice, maintained our relevance in the marketplace, enabled informed and responsible choices throughout the supply chain, kept up-to-date with best practice, and informed the biomass debate.

“We saw a drop in Certificate Holder numbers as economic sanctions were triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, accordingly, we terminated certificates in Russia and Belarus. The resultant drop in revenue was countered by our cash reserves with no detrimental impact on our certification services.

“Our geographic reach increased from 33 countries to 34, with the loss of Belarus and Russia offset by the gain of Réunion, Singapore and South Africa.

“The volume of SBP-certified biomass produced and sold in 2022 dropped to 15.95 million tonnes (2021: 16.70 million tonnes), consistent with the decrease in Certificate Holder numbers. Our share of the European industrial pellet consumption market was 78.9 per cent, down from 82.5 per cent in 2021.

“Once again analysis of the wide range of data we collect provides valuable insights on exactly what is used to make SBP-certified biomass. Independently verified data for 2022 shows that the vast majority of feedstock used in the production of biomass came from low grade roundwood that was not merchantable as sawtimber, and sawmill and wood industry residues.

“For the first time we were able to determine the split between forest-level certified feedstock and feedstock evaluated using our own risk-based approach. With the majority of feedstock having been evaluated by our Supply Basse Evaluation, the positive impact SBP is having on increasing the volume of certified material in the biomass market is evident.

“With a refreshed strategy for 2023-25, and the roll-out of our revised and improved Standards, we are well-placed to take a leadership role in assuring sustainably-sourced biomass in the global bioeconomy.”