Consultation outcome

Biomass sustainability

From:
Department of Energy & Climate Change
Published
16 June 2014
Last updated
12 August 2014 — See all updates
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
This consultation has concluded

Download the full outcome

Government response to the consultation on adjustments to sustainability and reporting provisions for biomass

PDF, 608 KB, 36 pages

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Detail of outcome

Details of Outcome

This document sets out the government response to the consultation on minor technical adjustments to aspects of the existing, or planned, reporting requirements and sustainability criteria for biomass. It sets out summaries of the consultation responses received from the biomass industry including UK and international biomass producers and suppliers, UK generators and power station developers, trade associations, Government agencies and environmental NGOs. It describes the Government position on each of the five consultation proposals:

  • Proposal 1: to revise the Saw Logs definition in the Renewables Obligation (RO)
  • Proposal 2: to reconsider the reporting requirements for tree species in the RO
  • Proposal 3: to provide exemptions from the Timber Standard for certain categories of wood for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and RO
  • Proposal 4: to add ‘highly biodiverse grasslands’ to the list of protected land types for the RHI and RO
  • Proposal 5: averaging of Greenhouse Gas Emissions across the year in the RO

All of the proposals would apply to the RO in England & Wales. Only proposals 3 and 4 would apply to the RHI in England, Scotland and Wales. It is our intention that the forthcoming FIDeR contracts and generic Contracts for Difference (CfD) awarded under the Electricity Market Reform will follow the same approach as the sustainability criteria set under the RO.

Original consultation

Summary

This consultation seeks views on proposed technical adjustments to sustainability provisions for solid and gaseous biomass under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).

This consultation ran from
to

Consultation description

This consultation proposes minor technical adjustments to five specific aspects of the existing or planned reporting requirements and sustainability criteria for biomass, which were previously announced in August 2013 in the Government response to the consultation on proposals to enhance sustainability criteria for the use of biomass feedstocks under the Renewables Obligation (RO).

The proposals are:

  • Proposal 1: to revise the Saw Logs definition in the Renewables Obligation (RO)
  • Proposal 2: to reconsider the reporting requirements for tree species in the RO
  • Proposal 3: to provide exemptions from the Timber Standard for certain categories of wood for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and RO
  • Proposal 4: to add ‘highly biodiverse grasslands’ to the list of protected land types for the RHI and RO
  • Proposal 5: averaging of Greenhouse Gas Emissions across the year in the RO

All of the proposals would apply to the RO in England & Wales. Only proposals 3 and 4 would apply to the RHI in England, Scotland and Wales. It is our intention that the forthcoming FIDeR contracts and generic Contracts for Difference (CfD) awarded under the Electricity Market Reform will follow the same approach as the sustainability criteria set under the RO.

We have also published a copy of the ‘Forestry Commission field book 9: classification and presentation of soft saw logs’ which is relevant to proposal 1 - to revise the definition of saw logs in the RO (see paragraphs 3.4 to 3.8 of the consultation document).

Documents

Adjustments to sustainability and reporting provisions for biomass

Ref: 14D/122

PDF, 606 KB, 30 pages

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Classification and presentation of softwood sawlogs: second edition (Forestry Commission field book 9)

PDF, 341 KB, 11 pages

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Published 16 June 2014
Last updated 12 August 2014 + show all updates

  1. Consultation response added

  2. First published.