(1)

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 lays down new sustainability criteria for forest biomass used for the production of energy, in order for the latter to be accounted against European targets and national contributions, be part of renewable energy obligations stemming from Articles 23 and 25, and to be eligible for public support. Moreover, Directive (EU) 2018/2001 requires Member States to consider the available sustainable supply of biomass and take due account of the principles of the circular economy and of the waste hierarchy established in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) when developing support schemes for renewable energy, in order to avoid unnecessary distortions of raw materials markets.

(2)

In this context, forest biomass used for the production of energy is to be considered sustainable if it fulfils the sustainability criteria laid down in Article 29(6) and (7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, which deal respectively with forest harvesting and emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).

(3)

To ensure coherence between the objectives of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and the Union’s environmental legislation and a robust and harmonised implementation of the new sustainability criteria for forest biomass by Member States and economic operators, Directive (EU) 2018/2001 requires the Commission to adopt implementing acts establishing operational guidance on the evidence for demonstrating compliance with these criteria.

(4)

To minimise the risk of using forest biomass that is not compliant with the sustainable harvesting criteria, economic operators should carry out a risk-based assessment, building on existing sustainable forest management legislation, including monitoring and enforcement systems, in force in the country of origin of the forest biomass. To that end, the harvested forest biomass should be subject to national and sub-national laws and regulations that meet the harvesting criteria laid down in point (a) of Article 29(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Economic operators should also assess whether there are monitoring and enforcement systems, and whether there is no evidence of significant lack of enforcement of the relevant national or sub-national laws. To that end, economic operators should use legal assessments and reports prepared by the European Commission (3), international or national governmental organisations, including information provided by non-governmental and scientific forest expert organisations. The risk-based assessment should also take account of any relevant on-going infringement procedures launched by the Commission, which are reflected in the publicly available infringements database of the Commission, and consider any relevant infringement rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union as evidence of lack of enforcement.

(5)

Where there is no evidence of compliance at the national level with one or more of the harvesting criteria laid down in point (a) of Article 29(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001, forest biomass should be considered high-risk. In such cases, economic operators should provide more detailed evidence that the harvesting criteria set out in point (b) of Article 29(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 are complied with, through management systems at the sourcing area level. In that respect, it is necessary to establish in more detail the evidence of sustainability which should be provided by economic operators through management systems at forest sourcing area level, when compared to that required under the national and sub-national compliance assessment. That will ensure that the harvesting criteria are effectively met, in particular the criteria on forest regeneration, conservation of protected areas, minimisation of harvesting impacts on soil quality and biodiversity, and on the maintenance or improvement of the forest’s long-term production capacity.

(6)

To ensure that biogenic emissions and removals associated with forest biomass harvesting are correctly accounted for, it is necessary that the forest biomass meets the LULUCF criteria at national level. In particular, the country or regional economic integration organisation from which the biomass is sourced should be a party to the Paris Agreement. In addition, the relevant country, or regional economic integration organisation, should have submitted a National Determined Contribution (NDC), in the context of the Paris Agreement, covering emissions and removals from land use, agriculture and forestry, which ensures that changes in carbon stock associated with biomass harvest are accounted towards the country or regional economic integration organisation’s commitment to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions, as specified in the NDC. Alternatively, it should have national or sub-national legislation, applicable to the area of harvest, to conserve and enhance carbon stocks and sinks. In addition, evidence should be provided that the reported LULUCF-sector emissions do not exceed removals and that forest carbon sinks are maintained or strengthened over a relevant reference period.

(7)

Where compliance with the LULUCF criteria laid down in point (a) of Article 29(7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 cannot be demonstrated, it is necessary that economic operators provide additional evidence of the existence of management systems at the sourcing area level, in order to ensure that both forest carbon stocks and sinks levels are maintained, or strengthened, in the long term. Such systems should include, at least, information from forward-looking planning and periodic monitoring of the development of the forest carbon stocks and sinks at the forest sourcing area level.

(8)

In order to ensure a robust verification of the new sustainability criteria on forest biomass, the information provided by economic operators should be transparent, accurate, reliable and protected against fraud, and economic operators should be able to rely on reliable certification rules. Those rules should take into account the role of voluntary national or international certification schemes, recognised by the Commission, pursuant to paragraph 4 of Article 30 of Directive (EU) 2018/2001.

(9)

In order to minimise administrative burden, Member States should facilitate the work of economic operators by making available data, including spatial data and inventories, for planning and monitoring purposes.

(10)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids and Biomass fuels,

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‘harvesting criteria at national or sub-national level’ means the criteria laid down in point (a) of Article 29(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

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‘harvesting criteria at sourcing area level’ means the criteria laid down in point (b) of Article 29(6) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

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‘country of harvest’ means the country or territory where the forest biomass raw material was harvested;

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‘planted forest’ means forest predominantly composed of trees established through planting and/or deliberate seeding provided that the planted or seeded trees are expected to constitute more than fifty percent of the growing stock at maturity; it includes coppice from trees that were originally planted or seeded;

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‘plantation forest’ means a planted forest that is intensively managed and meets, at planting and stand maturity, all the following criteria: one or two species, even age class, and regular spacing. It includes short rotation plantations for wood, fibre and energy, and excludes forests planted for protection or ecosystem restoration, as well as forests established through planting or seeding which at stand maturity resemble or will resemble naturally regenerating forests;

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‘stumps and roots’ mean parts of the whole tree volume, excluding the volume of the above-stump woody biomass, considering the height of the stump as that at which the tree would be cut under normal felling practices in the relevant country or region;

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‘deadwood’ means all non-living woody biomass not contained in the litter, either standing, lying on the ground, or in the soil, including wood lying on the surface, coarse debris, dead roots, and stumps larger than or equal to 10 cm in diameter or any other diameter used by the country concerned;

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‘long-term production capacity’ means the health of the forest and its ability to continuously and sustainably deliver goods, such as wood of various quality grades, and non-wood-forest products and ecosystem services, including air and water purification, maintenance of wildlife habitat, recreation or cultural capital, over a long period of time, and where applicable, bridging several successive forestry rotations;

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‘management system’ means information collected on the forest area at the sourcing area level, including in the form of text, maps, tables and graphs, and strategies or management activities planned and implemented to reach the forest resource management or development goals;

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‘natural disturbances’ has the meaning attributed to it by point (9) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/841 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4);

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‘net annual increment’ means the annual growth in volume of the stock of living trees available minus the average natural mortality of that stock;

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‘LULUCF criteria at national level’ means the criteria laid down in point (a) of Article 29(7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

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‘LULUCF criteria at sourcing area level’ means the criteria laid down in point (b) of Article 29(7) of Directive (EU) 2018/2001;

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‘carbon stock’ has the meaning attributed to it by point (4) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/841;

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‘carbon sink’ has the meaning attributed to it by point (1) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/841;

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‘first gathering point’ has the meaning attributed to it by Article 2(12) of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996 (5);

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‘first party auditing’ means a self-declaration by an economic operator supplying to the first gathering point;

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‘second party auditing’ means the auditing of a supplier by the economic operator managing the first gathering point;

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‘third party auditing’ means the auditing of an economic operator carried out by a third party that is independent from the organisation subject to the auditing;

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‘economic operator’ has the meaning attributed to it by Article 2(11) of the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/996.

(a)

The spatial boundaries of the sourcing area for which compliance needs to be demonstrated, and on which management systems referred to in point (b) apply, including by means of geographical coordinates or parcels.

(b)

Management systems applicable to the sourcing area ensuring:

(i)

it has submitted a nationally determined contribution (NDC), under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change following the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that meets the following requirements:

(ii)

there are national or sub-national laws, applicable to the area of harvest, to conserve and enhance carbon stocks and sinks in forests. In addition, evidence shall be provided that the reported LULUCF sector emissions do not exceed removals, which may be proven by providing evidence that reported LULUCF sector emissions do not exceed removals on average over the 10 years preceding the harvesting of the forest biomass and that carbon stocks and sinks are conserved or enhanced between the last two successive 10-year periods preceding the harvesting of forest biomass.

(a)

identify the spatial boundaries of the sourcing area for which compliance needs to be demonstrated, for instance by means of geographical coordinates, plots or parcels, including stands and tracts of land, and identify the relevant forest carbon pools, including aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, litter, deadwood and soil organic carbon;

(b)

calculate the average forest carbon stocks and sinks over a historical reference period with the purpose of establishing a benchmark for the comparison of maintenance or strengthening of forest carbon stocks and sinks of a sourcing area. Economic operators shall use the reference period of 2000-2009, or another period of similar length and as close as possible to 2000-2009, to facilitate the use of forest inventory data or to mitigate the impacts of natural disturbances or other extreme events. The economic operators shall duly justify the choice of their reference period. The economic operator shall estimate reference values for all relevant carbon pools individually identified pursuant to point (a);

(c)

describe the scenario of the expected forest management practices in a sourcing area for a projected long-term period covering at least 30 years after the harvesting event from which biomass is sourced. That scenario shall be constructed on the basis of the forest management practices in a sourcing area documented for the historical reference period, or on existing forest management plans or other verifiable evidence;

(d)

estimate the average carbon stocks and sinks of the sourcing area over the projected long-term period, covering at least 30 years depending on the forest growth rate, after the harvesting of the forest biomass. In order to ensure comparability with the historical reference period, those estimates shall use the same carbon pools, data and methods referred to in points (a) and (b). Where economic operators are not able to quantify one or more of the pools identified pursuant to point (a), they shall provide due justification;

(e)

compare the average carbon stock and sinks in the relevant forest sourcing area of the projected long-term period with the forest carbon stocks and sinks of the historical reference period. If the average forest carbon stocks and sinks of the projected long-term period are equal to or higher than the average forest carbon stocks and sinks of the historical reference period, the forest biomass is in compliance with the LULUCF criteria at the forest sourcing area level. Economic operators shall put in place adequate monitoring and verification systems of the actual development of carbon stock and sinks in demonstrated compliance with the requirements set out in this Article.