The SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES Verifications Scheme (SURE) has announced that it has obtained final recognition by the European Commission and has been approved as a voluntary scheme that enables economic operators within the bioenergy industry to show compliance with the legal requirements of the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).
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Under the revised Directive (EU) 2018/2001, the EU sustainability criteria have been extended to cover biomass for heating, cooling, and power generation.
The EU Member States were required to transpose the new rules already by June 30, 2021, and many economic operators decisively chose to document the sustainable use of biomass by applying for certification in due time.
Although the final recognition of the voluntary schemes including SURE by the European Commission came at this late stage – they were announced in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 12, 2022 – SURE has already managed to gain the trust of the economic operators.
Efficient and practical
In less than a year, SURE proved to be one of the most efficient and practical solutions in the market, with over 340 issued certificates so far and other more than 3 000 received applications pending certification.
According to SURE, which is jointly owned by Bioenergy Europe and REDcert GmbH, its certification system has a number of key advantages:
- The system was established to specifically address and cover the RED II requirements. It was developed as a full-scope scheme, thus helping all actors in the supply chain to demonstrate compliance with the sustainability criteria.
- SURE was also designed to be an independent and credible certification scheme. The latter is ensured by the cooperation with the approved certification bodies that are responsible for checking the sustainability criteria against the scheme principles and checklists.
Since the launch of the scheme, 25 certification bodies have been approved by SURE and actively contribute to the successful certification process.
Additionally, the rapid growth of the scheme in the market is assisted by six national partners that help increase awareness and support the system in countries like Austria, Lithuania, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
