Specific requirements for low ILUC-risk certification
1. Voluntary schemes shall require economic operators seeking to receive a low ILUC-risk certification to submit an application to a certification body having the competence to deliver such certification. Upon acceptance of the application, the economic operator shall submit a management plan containing the minimum information set out in Annex VIII. Where more than one additionality measure is applied, all additionality measures shall be documented in the management plan.
2. The certification body shall conduct an on-site baseline audit to verify the content of the management plan, as well as to establish and document the dynamic yield baseline.
3. As part of the baseline audit, the certification body shall assess whether the additionality measure(s), are expected to lead to an increase in yields in accordance with Article 2(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 and compliance with the sustainability criteria set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001.
4. The auditors carrying out the baseline audit on behalf of the certification body shall indicate in the baseline audit report any sustainability issues, stemming from the implementation of the additionality measures, which may potentially constitute a breach of the national or regional legal framework or do not comply with local specific conditions. Any sustainability issues shall be included in the annual audits.
5. Voluntary schemes shall issue low ILUC-risk certificates in accordance with the requirements on minimum content set out in point 4 of Annex VIII, and shall publish a list of those certificates on their website.
6. In the case of applications including additionality measures to be applied after certification, the baseline audit, the results of the additionality test, and the dynamic yield baseline shall be valid for 10 years. In the case of a perennial crops, an economic operator can choose to delay the start of the 10-year validity period by up to 2 years in the case of operational additionality measures or up to 5 years in the case of replanting.
7. Where the additionality measures have been already applied before certification, the baseline audit, the results of the additionality test, and the dynamic yield baseline shall be valid for 10 years from the starting year of the implementation of the additionality measure. In such a case, the baseline may be accepted for additionality measures taken not more than 10 years before, as long as sufficient data and documentary evidence is available providing the same level of assurances of a situation where the baseline audit was conducted before the implementation of the additionality measure(s).
8. Only additional biomass that has been produced after the low ILUC risk certification has been granted shall be eligible for a low ILUC-risk declaration. The actual amount of annual additional biomass declared by the economic operator shall be subject to annual audits.
9. The implementation of the management plan shall be subject to annual audits to verify that the content of the management plan is implemented correctly and that the quantities of additionally produced and claimed biomass for the purposes of low-ILUC certification, against the dynamic yield baseline, are correct.
10. An economic operator may apply more than one additionality measure over the years. Where two or more additionality measures are applied together in the same year on the same delineated plot of land, the additional biomass produced as a result shall be evaluated against the same dynamic yield baseline. The additional biomass may be certified as low ILUC-risk under the same certificate.
11. Where two or more additionality measures are applied at different times on the same delineated plot of land, the economic operator may choose either of the following options:
(a)
update the dynamic yield baseline and the additionality test to create a new baseline valid for another 10 years;
(b)
keep the original validity period of 10 years for the dynamic yield baseline and the additionality test following the initial certification year.
Specific requirements for proving additionality
1. For the purposes of certifying biofuels, bioliquids, or biomass fuels as low ILUC-risk, voluntary schemes and certification bodies working on their behalf shall verify that economic operators have applied measures effectively increasing feedstock productivity beyond a business-as-usual scenario. Where such measures are applied on abandoned or severely degraded land or by small holders, the baseline audit shall verify that economic operators comply with the appropriate requirements of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807. In all other situations, proof of additionality shall be provided by carrying out a financial attractiveness or barrier analysis assessment.
2. In order to comply with the requirements set out in Article 5(1)(a) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 regarding additionality measures, proposed investments shall either pass a financial attractiveness test or non-financial barrier test in accordance with Annex VIII.
3. Measures shall be eligible for the purpose of low ILUC-risk certification only where either their financial attractiveness test is negative, that is to say a negative net present value (NPV) of the investment without the inclusion of a market premium, or they demonstrate the presence of non-financial barriers that can be overcome only because the biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from the additional feedstock can be counted towards the targets for renewable energy set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001.
Production on unused, abandoned or severely degraded land
1. For the purpose of complying with the requirements for production on unused or abandoned land as defined in Article 2, points (2) and (3), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807, economic operators shall provide evidence that for a consecutive period of at least 5 years before the start of cultivation of the feedstock used for the production of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, the delineated areas were used neither for the cultivation of food and feed crops or other energy crops nor for the cultivation of any substantial amount of fodder for grazing animals.
2. For land to qualify as abandoned land, the economic operator shall provide additional evidence that food or feed crops were once grown on the delineated area before the consecutive period referred to in paragraph 1. That evidence shall also prove that the production ceased for biophysical or socioeconomic reasons.
Biophysical changes which adversely affect the growing of food and feed crops may include, but are not limited to, the following events:
(a)
an increased frequency of severe weather events such as droughts, storms or floods;
(b)
changes in seasonal temperature patterns which affect plant phenology;
(c)
increased pests and diseases;
(d)
damage to irrigation systems;
(e)
damage to soil such as severe salinisation, depletion of organic matter and erosion rendering them ‘severely degraded’.
3. Socioeconomic factors adversely affecting the economic viability of production, leading to the abandonment of the land may include, but are not limited to, the following events:
(a)
changes in market prices: (for example increased input or labour costs, or both, or reductions in the price fetched by finished crops);
(b)
labour becoming unavailable (for example as a result of migration);
(c)
failure of the supply chain (for example through the closure of a local market or a transport link);
(d)
disputes about ownership (for example in the context of inheritance);
(e)
political instability (for example confiscation or nationalization of the land).
4. An application for the certification of feedstock as having been produced on severely degraded land, as defined in part C, point (9) of Annex V to Directive (EU) 2018/2001, shall be accompanied by the following soil test results, as applicable:
(a)
in the case of salinisation, the results of testing by a qualified agronomist of the electroconductivity of the soil using the saturated paste method;
(b)
in the case of low soil organic matter, results from an appropriate number of samples of soil from the delineated plot, determined by a qualified agronomist, using the dry combustion method;
(c)
in the case of severe erosion, at least 25 % of the delineated plot shall have been eroded as determined by a qualified agronomist, supported by photographs.
5. Where a delineated area qualifies as unused land, it shall pass an additionality test as set out in point (4) of Annex VIII in order to be eligible for low ILUC-risk certification. Delineated areas that qualify as abandoned or severely degraded land shall not be required to pass the additionality test in order to be eligible for low ILUC-risk certification. In the case of production on unused, abandoned or degraded land, the dynamic yield baseline shall be set to zero with no trend line.
Determining additional biomass for yield increase measures
1. The ‘additional biomass’ eligible for low ILUC-risk certification shall be the additional amount of feedstock produced in a clearly delineated area compared to the dynamic yield baseline as a direct result of applying an additionality measure.
2. The dynamic yield baseline shall be established by setting out a starting point, based on historical yield from the delineated plot, and a trend line based on global yield trends for the feedstock, which shall be determined in accordance with the principles set out in Annex VIII.
3. The actual yield for a delineated plot after implementation of the additionality measure shall be compared against the baseline referred to paragraph 2. The difference between the actual yield and the dynamic yield baseline is the additional feedstock eligible to be claimed as low ILUC-risk.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
