The deployment of biomass plays an important role in the ambitions of the European Union and the Dutch Government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower our dependency on fossil fuels. What is crucial in that regard is that biomass can be sustainably produced. The definition of sustainability criteria by the Cramer Committee - in which Rabobank had close involvement - marks an important first step towards these goals.
With Rabobank as a co-initiator, the corporate sector, NGOs, competence centres and the government then joined forces to develop concrete plans and forge business alliances with a view to achieving sustainability throughout the biomass chain. Under the name Biopec, this alliance works towards developing a certification system for sustainable biomass. In addition, Biopec wants to create sustainable biomass production chains that demonstrate how the envisaged certification can be undertaken on economically viable terms. The possibility of scaling up these examples is crucial, in addition to achieving benefits for the local economy, creating support for bio-energy in importing and exporting countries, and achieving high net : www.jaarverslagcfi.nl/inloggen/default.aspx reduction.