The Sustainable Resource Verification System (SURE) has been approved by the European Commission as a voluntary system that allows economic operators in the bioenergy sector to demonstrate compliance with RED II legal requirements.
Under the revised Directive (EU) 2018/2001, the EU sustainability criteria have been extended to cover biomass for heating and cooling and power generation. EU countries had to transpose the new rules by June 30 last year, and many economic operators chose to document the sustainable use of biomass by applying for certification.
In less than a year, SURE has issued more than 340 certificates to date and received more than 3,000 applications, pending certification. Although the Commission’s recognition came at this late stage, SURE has already gained the trust of economic operators.
SURE was developed as a full-scope system, which helps all actors in the supply chain to demonstrate compliance with sustainability criteria. SURE was also designed to be an independent and credible certification system. The latter is ensured through cooperation with authorized certification bodies, which are responsible for checking the sustainability criteria against the principles and checklists of the system.
Since the launch of SURE, 25 certification bodies have been approved by the scheme and actively contribute to the success of the certification process.
Source: Bioenergy Insight (2022)