EUBA recommends Bio-based content certification in their position on the EU Green Deal

The European Bioeconomy Alliance (EUBA) supports the ambitious European Commission strategy to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the EU and achieve climate neutrality by 2050 as recently set in motion as the European Green Deal. EUBIA, representing twelve organisations in various sectors active in the bioeconomy, welcomes this comprehensive policy tool that should ensure alignment and coherence between the different initiatives that are part of the Green Deal. EUBA published their position paper on 29 April 2020 in view of the EU Green Deal. They specifically refer to ‘bio-based content’ certificates based on EN 16785-1:2015 for credible and transparent communications:

“Promoting the use of renewable raw materials and the visibility of bio-based products helps raise awareness of existing renewable alternatives to traditional fossil-carbon based products and enhance consumption of sustainable products and sustainable production patterns. Certification and labelling systems based on European standards enable communicating the properties of bio-based products in a clear and unambiguous way. Therefore, building on EU initiatives, the EU should refer to existing standards and labels on the definitions of bio-based products in official communications, such as ‘bio‐based content’ certificates and labels based on the standard EN 16785‐1:2015, and give a clear preference towards products for which renewable raw materials were used in public procurement and/or in tax regulations. Public procurement for bio-based products could be a game changer, notably by including renewability as a criterion for Green Public Procurement (GPP).”

The Bio-based content scheme management welcomes EUBA’s recommendation. EN 16785-1:2015 is developed at the request of the European Commission. Applying this standard and certification in EU policy like the Green Deal would be a logical step to make use of broadly accepted agreements between a wide variety of stakeholders. Using bio-based content certificates is an effective tool to communicate about bio-based products in business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-government communication. Credible and transparent claims about bio-based content are important to successfully deploy the bioeconomy and with that to contribute to achieving the objectives of the EU Green Deal. Requiring or awarding bio-based content certification in (public) procurement will be a driver to make this happen.

The full position paper can be downloaded from the EUBA website.