PEFC achieves a major milestone in the recognition process of RED II by the European Commission

17 October 2024 News

On 11 October 2024, the European Commission announced the positive technical assessment for the PEFC RED II certification.

RED II and voluntary schemes

The European Union’s (EU) Revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) is the Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Under RED II, the European Commission (EC) can recognise voluntary certification schemes as compliant with the rules included in the RED II to help verifying that the production of fuels and energy from forest biomass complies with the EU sustainability criteria as well as relevant methodologies.

By using voluntary certification schemes, participating economic operators can demonstrate their compliance with the RED II sustainability and greenhouse gas saving criteria and provide the necessary assurances. 

PEFC RED II and Technical recognition

To achieve recognition from the European Commission, PEFC has developed a set of new standards: the PEFC RED II standards. The PEFC RED II scheme is built up over the PEFC Chain of custody. 

PEFC RED II certification covers forest biomass, ligno-cellulosic material derived from processing residues originating in forest-related industries, waste, and biomass fuels produced from ligno-cellulosic material for heating, cooling, and electricity production.  

After a thorough assessment process, on 11 October 2024, PEFC achieved the positive technical assessment by the EC. Information about the technical recognition has been published on the European Commission website.

The next steps at EU level

The positive technical assessment sends a strong signal of the PEFC RED II scheme’s availability as a market tool that will support the achievement of EU member states’ RED II targets and the legislation’s implementation across the EU.

As next steps, the EU countries now need to formally approve the PEFC scheme by voting in the RED II committee on 'the sustainability of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels' at the Commission level. The decision then needs to be published in the EU Official Journal. With a procedure in place, formal recognition is expected to happen in the short term. 

PEFC’s next steps

PEFC will publish on our website the draft RED II documentation which received the EC positive technical assessment, while we work on an internal standard approval, following the PEFC standard-setting process. We will continue with the PEFC RED II rollout consisting of the auditors’ training programme, the administration at the scheme level, and the operations of the PEFC RED II database – FREDII.

Further information about the PEFC RED II will be available in due course. For any inquiries related to PEFC RED II work, please contact us.