HOFOR S SUSTAINABLE BIOMASS PROGRAMME 1
SUSTAINABLE BIOMASS It is essential for HOFOR that the biomass feedstock for the Amagerværket combined heat and power (CHP) plant is sustainable and that the sustainability can be documented. At HOFOR, biomass sustainability is defined in equal measure as 1) the current aspects of climate, environmental, and ecosystem impacts alongside socioeconomic conditions and safety, and 2) the needs and challenges of future generations. The cornerstone of sustainable biomass is that the regional forest volume remains constant or increases in quantity as well as quality, and that the increased use of biomass leads to significant CO 2 reductions compared to the continued use of fossil fuels. period from August 2016 to 2019 in Table 1. All biomass received must be sustainable in accordance with the Industry Agreement. However, the share of biomass which must meet the documentation requirements is increased on a yearly basis over the coming years, as the market adjusts to the demand for sustainability documentation. Table 1 Requirements pertaining to the documented sustainable share of biomass in the phase-in of the Industry Agreement HOFOR has formally committed to sustainability criteria, CO 2 mitigation and documentation requirements through signing up to the Danish industry agreement to ensure sustainable biomass. The agreement is a common set of rules and criteria related to the sustainability of biomass, which a number of larger Danish utility companies adhere to (see below). The documentation requirements are primarily met through the sourcing of certified sustainable biomass. The Danish industry agreement to ensure sustainable biomass In 2014, Danish heat and combined heat and power producers organized under the industry associations Danish Energy Association (Dansk Energi) and Danish District Heating Association (Dansk Fjernvarme) entered into the Industry agreement to ensure sustainable biomass (wood pellets and wood chips). Through the Industry Agreement, large scale biomass users in Denmark commit to meet and document a number of sustainability requirements on forest-derived biomass fuel. The Industry Agreement, which entered into force in August 2016, is a government-endorsed voluntary scheme as an alternative to a law decree, and is fully aligned with HOFOR s understanding of biomass sustainability. HOFOR has officially committed to the Industry Agreement and HOFOR s minimum requirements pertaining to documentation of biomass sustainability thus follow the requirements of the Industry Agreement, including the phase-in of the documentation requirements in the Year Documented share 2016 (August to December) 40 percent 2017 60 percent 2018 75 percent 2019 Fully phased in 1 1 Fully phased in means that 90 percent of the pellets and woodchips used must be documented as sustainable in accordance with the criteria of the Industry Agreement. The 90 percent requirement gives leverage to situations when biomass must be sourced on short notice to ensure the continuous supply of district heating with no immediate availability of biomass compliant with the required sustainability documentation. Sustainability requirements in the Danish Industry Agreement At forest level, the Industry Agreement dictates requirements to ensure long-term productivity, biodiversity protection and other ecosystem considerations. The biomass producer must be able to document sustainable feedstock sourcing as well as woodchip and pellet production, including supply chain energy consumption in accordance with the Industry Agreement criteria. 2
The Industry Agreement dictates concrete sustainability criteria within seven categories as well as a number of in-principle requirements targeted at sustainability themes, for which scientific consensus has not been reached regarding sustainability impacts and calculation methodologies. The detailed criteria of the seven categories are listed below2: 1) Legality Legality of forest management and utilisation is safeguarded through: Logging from legally designated areas Payment of all relevant taxes and duties related to the forest sector Logging complies with applicable legislation governing the environment and forest areas Logging respects the rights acquired by prescription and the civil rights of indigenous people Compliance with the trade and customs legislation governing the forest sector. 2) Protection of the forests ecosystems Forest management must ensure the preservation of the fundamental conditions of the ecosystem through: Assessment of the environmental (eg water, soil) impact related to clearance of wood Impact assessment of the influence of management on ecosystem and biodiversity Scheme to minimise negative impact on ecosystems and biodiversity, including impact from fertilisers, pesticides and waste disposal. 3) The forests productivity and ability to contribute to the global carbon cycle must be maintained. Management of forests must ensure the least negative impact on the forest s productivity and carbon sequestration through: Maintaining the forest s ability to produce wood for future generations Balancing logging and growth rates Establishing a system for measuring the forest s productivity Education and training of producers and subcontractors Refraining from using wood from forests which cannot be replanted/ rejuvenated Refraining from converting land with forest status Refraining from converting forests with high carbon content 4) The forests must be healthy and well-functioning Forest management must ensure healthy and well-functioning forests through: Maintaining or increasing forest health and vitality Management of natural processes, including forest fires, pests and diseases Protection against illegal logging and mining operations The following passage is an extract from the Industry Agreement. For further details and definitions, see the official Industry Agreement document. 2 3
5) Protection of biodiversity, sensitive areas and areas worthy of preservation Forest management must ensure protection of biodiversity, sensitive areas and areas worthy of preservation through: Identification of particularly vulnerable areas or areas which are particularly worthy of preservation Protection of designated areas through forest management with due consideration to sensitive areas and areas worthy of preservation 6) Social and work-related rights must be respected Forest management must safeguard respect for social and work-related rights by: identifying, documenting and respecting original inhabitants with a traditional or legal forest easement Establishing complaint mechanisms, if not already available, to regulate disagreements in connection with the identified forest easements and working environment Employees shall be entitled to organise themselves and child labour, forced labour or discrimination are not permitted The work must be organised and executed in such a way that the employees health and safety are taken into due consideration. 7) CO2 emissions limits from biomass value chain Biomass may only be used where CO2 emissions from the biomass value chain in question do not exceed the applicable limits resulting from this Agreement at any given time: Involvement of the entire value chain for both biomass and fossil reference For the 2016-2019 period the emission limit is 100 kg CO2-eq/MWh for combined heat and power production equivalent to a CO2 reduction of 70% compared to the EU fossil fuel comparator In addressing the sustainability themes not yet under scientific consensus (carbon cycle, maintenance of forest carbon stock, Indirect landuse change (ILUC) and Indirect wooduse change (IWUC)), the Industry Agreement requires the heat and combined heat and power producers To aim not to use biomass: Where there is an actual alternative demand in the region for highvalue production (including the production of timber) Which comes from trees that are grown on fertile soil, which has been unwisely converted from agriculture to forestry Which is to blame for deforestation in the region Which negatively affects the quantity and quality of forest resources in the medium and long terms 5
lished, global forest management certification schemes FSC and PEFC, enables producers and users of biomass to document sustainable practices based on recognized, standardized criteria and procedures as well as third party verifications. SBP s sustainability criteria are to some extent based on FSC and PEFC standards, but also cover documentation of the value chain from the forest through a wood chipping facility or pellet mill, including transport, before the final energy conversion to heat and/or electricity. This makes it possible to calculate the total biomass-related CO 2 emissions from the forest to the CHP plant. Sustainability Documentation Compliance with the requirements of the Industry Agreement is documented yearly in a report, which is verified by an independent third party and made publicly available. HOFOR uses certification of the biomass as the main means of documenting its sustainability. The biomass fulfils the requirements of the Industry Agreement when it is certified against the relevant standards of one of the three internationally acknowledged sustainability certification schemes below: 1. Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) a. Covers forestry and biomass production b. CO 2 related data for compliance with the Industry Agreement criteria 7 accompanies the certified biomass throughout the supply chain c. The forest certification stage can be covered through FSC or PEFC certification 2. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC ) a. Certification of forest management b. CO 2 related data from the supply chain must be provided in addition to the certificate 3. Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) a. Certification of forest management b. CO 2 related data from the supply chain must be provided in addition to the certificate At HOFOR, we have chosen SBP certification as the primary sustainability documentation requirement for our suppliers. HOFOR has been actively involved in the development of the industry-initiated SBP scheme. A major focus for HOFOR in this context has been to ensure that the sustainability requirements of the Industry Agreement are covered by the SBP certification so that biomass which meets the SBP criteria also meets the requirements of the Industry Agreement. SBP is a new certification scheme, which, in line with the well-estab- HOFOR is certified against the Chain-of-Custody standards of SBP, FSC and PEFC, which means that we have implemented procedures that enable us to: 1. Check the validity of supplier certificates 2. Handle CO 2 related data from the value chain for use in the CO 2 emissions calculations 3. Maintain traceability of sustainability-related data in our databases, and 4. Resell certified biomass with a valid certificate. The certification audit was carried out in the first quarter of 2017 and is followed up by a yearly third party re-assessment of our procedures, material flow registrations, internal training, etc., to ensure that we meet the requirements of the certification schemes at all times. Other appropriate form of documentation and risk assessment In parallel with the main focus on certified sustainable biomass, HOFOR is establishing procedures to handle situations in which certified sustainable biomass is not available in the market. The sustainability documentation must, in such cases, be produced through another appropriate form of documentation, where a supplier and/or producer is directly evaluated according to the criteria stipulated in the Industry Agreement. An independent third party assesses whether the documentation sufficiently complies with the requirements of the Industry Agreement. Biomass delivered with another appropriate form of documentation thus fulfils sustainability criteria in a similar way to SBP compliant biomass. It is primarily in a phase-in period, when the market for certified biomass is immature, that acceptance of biomass with another appropriate form of documentation may be necessary. For long-term supply contacts, we set strict requirements with regard to the supply of SBPcompliant biomass only. The Industry Agreement accepts procurement of up to 10 percent sustainable biomass (at full phase-in), for which only the legal requirement must be documented. This is to accommodate situations in which the biomass must be procured at short notice. In situations where HOFOR is forced to opt for such a route, we have developed procedures to assess whether the risk that a potential delivery is in conflict with the core requirements of the Industry Agreement is sufficiently low to be acceptable. 6
Further information About the Industry Agreement to ensure sustainable biomass: http://www.danishenergyassociation.com/~/media/biomasse/industryagreement_biomass-20160623.ashx About SBP (Sustainable Biomass Program): https://sbp-cert.org/ About FSC (Forest Stewardship Council): https://dk.fsc.org/dk-dk About PEFC (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes): https://www.pefc.org/ FSC trademark license code: FSC-C133904 7
May 2017 Version 1.0 HOFOR Ørestads Boulevard 35 2300 København S Telefon 33 95 23 01 www.hofor.dk 8