The European Green Deal is the European Commission's political initiative to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. One key component for reaching this is the RED III which contains ambitious targets for the expansion of renewable energies and sets minimum sectoral shares of RFNBOs in the transport sector (minimum of 1 % by 2030) and in industry (minimum of 42 % by 2030 and 60 % by 2035).
Fuel distributors must demonstrate that they are meeting these minimum shares of RFNBOs, and they must prove that their fuels meet the minimum requirement of a 70 % reduction in emissions compared to fossil reference fuels across the entire value chain. This also includes emissions from transport. Pipeline transport is a low-emission option for this purpose.
The European Commission has created a formal certification framework for verifying compliance with the requirements for RFNBOs under RED III. Within this framework, recognised certification systems form the basis for the activities of independent certification bodies. These systems enable fuel distributors to issue Proofs of Sustainability (PoS), which are mandatory for the crediting of RFNBOs to national quotas such as the German greenhouse gas reduction quota. The basic prerequisite for issuing a PoS is the certification by an independent certification body.
DVGW CERT GmbH is one of the leading certification bodies in the gas and water sector and will expand its activities to include the certification of RFNBOs in the future and is making significant progress in the application process.
The presentation deals with the certification of RFNBOs from the perspective of a certification body. In addition to the legal framework, it considers the challenges for certification bodies, the requirements for plant operators along the entire value chain and the importance of pipeline transport for achieving emission reduction requirements.