Council on Sustainable Biomass Production

The Council for Sustainable Biomass Production or CSBP was started to develop a voluntary sustainability standard for biomass growers and bioenergy producers. The CSBP agreed to develop a formal certification program and corresponding mechanism for verifying performance according to the sustainability standard. This is to be able to provide market recognition for biomass feedstocks and the bioenergy products they produce (fuel and electricity) that meet the standard.

The CSBP created a sustainability standard prior to the commercial-scale development of the biomass-based bioenergy industry. This is unusual in that most other standards organizations arose to improve production or management systems in a developed industry or to reward the best producers of a developed industry. What the CSBP is attempting is challenging because the science is still evolving best practices to produce biomass while protecting biodiversity?, preventing undesirable land use change?, and ensuring that soil and water quality are maintained or enhanced.

Vision and Goal Statements

• Vision: To ensure that in the United States biomass feedstocks and bioenergy (both fuel and electricity) are produced in a sustainable manner, balancing economic, environmental and social imperatives.

• Goal: Generate broad multi-stakeholder consensus on guidelines for sustainability to set this emerging industry on a course of continuous improvement with full support from growers, germplasm providers, social and environmental interests, and refineries.

The CSBP intends its Draft Standard to be cost effective enough to be widely implemented, while assuring truly sustainable production of biomass.

Feedstocks included: The CSBP Standard applies to biomass produced from non-food sources, including:

• Dedicated fuel crops
• Crop residues
• Purpose-grown wood
• Forestry residues
• Native vegetation

Issues Addressed

The CSBP Standard addresses the full complement of sustainability issues through principles, criteria, and indicators applicable to both agriculture and silviculture. The key categories of criteria include:

Climate Change

The Standard requires significant improvements in greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to conventional fuels, based on widely-accepted lifecycle analysis.

Biological Diversity

The Standard promotes conservation and, where possible, enhancement of biological diversity. The Standard prohibits conversion of lands of high priority for meeting conservation goals, and will limit use of potentially invasive feedstock species.

Water Quality and Quantity

The Standard promotes protection and enhancement of surface and ground water quality, as well as prevents their depletion.

*Soil quality

The Standard promotes protection of soil fertility, water-holding capacity, and carbon content.

Socio-Economic Well-Being

The Standard promotes rural development as well as strict compliance with all human rights and labor protections laws.

*Integrated Resources Management Planning'''

Effective management planning to ensure continuous improvement is the foundation of sustainable biomass production for both farms and forests.

The full text of the draft standard is here: