Unique certificate
The Arkhangelsk branch of Region-Les LLC has received its SBP certificate.
On the last day of 2020 the Arkhangelsk branch of Region-Les LLC received its certificate of compliance with the requirements of the SBP certification system.
The Sustainable Biomass Program
The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a certification system designed for woody biomass, mostly in the form of wood pellets and woodchip that are used in industrial large-scale energy production. SBP has developed a certification system to make sure that woody biomass is sourced from legal, sustainable sources and production sites have implemented systems of energy consumption monitoring for pellet and woodchip production.
The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) is a certification system designed for woody biomass, mostly in the form of wood pellets and woodchip that are used in industrial large-scale energy production. SBP has developed a certification system to make sure that woody biomass is sourced from legal, sustainable sources and production sites have implemented systems of energy consumption monitoring for pellet and woodchip production.
The certification process of the Arkhangelsk branch was really different from the rest of SBP audits. In fact, Region-Les LLC has decided not only to implement the system of energy consumption monitoring of pellets which are manufactured from logging waste but the company has also decided to confirm its compliance with the strictest requirements of one of the most selective and fault-finding countries on the EU pellet market – the Netherlands.
Pavel Veryuzhskiy
Director for Development, Region-Les LLC
"Despite the common market and currency, absence of borders within the EU, the common polices are still being developed to address certain aspects and the implementation of these policies may differ from country to country. Currently, the EU market is ecologically sensitive and EU importers from all countries pay close attention not only to the quality but also to the sourcing, legality and eco-friendliness of the product. At the same time the EU countries have different approaches when defining ecologically acceptable production. In some countries, you only have to confirm the legal sourcing of timber and present a certificate from one of the most widely spread schemes in the sphere of voluntary forest certification. However, when exporting to other EU countries it is also necessary to comply with a number of specific requirements, confirm your ecological and social responsibility. Not all exporters are capable of complying with it."
SBP is an adaptable system, incorporating a modular approach enabling country-specific biomass sustainability requirements to be met. For example, to be able to export to the Netherlands, the pellet producer must comply with specific SBP standards designed to comply with the Netherlands' SDE+ regime. The Arkhangelsk branch is the first pellet producer to be certified in accordance with Instruction Document 2D (SBP ID2D), meeting the requirements for the evaluation and certification of group schemes for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the Netherlands SDE+ sustainability requirements for primary feedstock sourced by the company from Forest Management Units of 500ha and <500ha (biomass categories 1 and 2 respectively).
"The project to produce pellets in Arkhangelsk is unique for Russia. Usually, the waste products of sawmilling such as woodchip and sawdust are used to produce pellets. In our case, these is logging waste - low-grade pulpwood and firewood, the harvesting of which was previously economically unprofitable, therefore, in most cases, such assortments were left in the forest. The new production is meant to diversify the economy of Region-Les LLC and obtain profits from something that was once viewed as a waste product. It goes without saying that when you are organizing an innovative production it is necessary to use all possible ways and instruments to promote it on international markets. This is exactly why we paid our attention to the SBP option and made the decision to implement those requirements"
Dmitriy Gvozdev
General Director, Region-Les LLC
The main difference from the 'classic' requirements of the SBP standards is the requirement for the pellet producer to develop its own set of requirements for the suppliers of feedstock based on the NL SDE+ sustainability criteria, but developed taking into account the specifics of the regions of feedstock origin – round wood. The requirements must include quite an extensive list of obligations which includes the preservation of high value forest landscapes, crucial natural habitats, establishment and implementation of measures to manage natural forest carbon stocks, prohibition for significant transformations of forest landscapes, compulsory reforestation, decreasing the impact to water and soil, etc. Following the developed requirements, the logging enterprises which make up the Region-Les Company Group have implemented all requirements into their daily activities. The specialists of Region-Les LLC have confirmed this fact in their internal supplier audits.
Anton Studentsov
Head of Forestry Department, Region-Les LLC
"Developing the requirements is a thorough process, implementing such requirements is similar to construction. All developed and implemented measures must be interconnected, logical and easy for the personnel of logging enterprises. At the stage of planning, we faced our biggest challenge – this was the first time when a pellet producer has implemented Instruction Document 2D (SBP ID2D). In this case, the key role was played by our experience which we had accumulated when working with other certification schemes. In particular, the Region-Les Company Group has been working in accordance with the requirements of one of the world's largest certification schemes of voluntary forest certification FSC® for more than 7 years. (License code FSC-C128360)."
In order to obtain the certificate, it is not enough to simply develop and implement the requirements. One of the key stages during this certification is to prove it to an independent certification body and show that all measures undertaken by the company correspond to the outlined requirements. For doing so, Region-Les LLC turned to the world leader in the sphere of certification services – Preferred by Nature (earlier known as NEPCon).
"Our main objective is to demonstrate that Region-Les LLC is not a shell company group but a strong and sustainable union of enterprises, which promote responsible forest management. In this case, getting an accurate, objective and professional evaluation of our activities is as important as never before. This is the exact reason why we chose Preferred by Nature (NEPCon) – this is one of the most respected certification bodies in the world and they have proved their professionalism numerous times"
Alexey Lugovskoy
Deputy Director for Commerce, Region-Les LLC
Due to the fact that this kind of evaluation took place for the first time in the world, experts from Assurance Services International (SBP international partner for certification scheme assurance) were monitoring the quality of the audit. Their main objective was to confirm the correctness of conclusions made by the auditor from Preferred by Nature (NEPCon) while he was evaluating our work.
Roman Verin
Regional Director of Preferred by Nature (NEPCon) (Russia, CIS, Balkan region, Turkey)
"When the Region-Les Company Group turned to us with such challenging technical assignment we did not get surprised as we had been watching their development for quite a long time. We see their striving to build a sustainable business. They were among those who helped to successfully complete the challenging 17 year project for the creation of the Dvinsko-Pinizhski Reserve in the Russian North. It is very important for the area. This certification is really unique it is the first of the kind in the world. This was a professional challenge for our team which was directed by the international auditor Nikolay Tochilov. The challenge was to perform an audit that no one had ever done before. It is possible to say that this SBP certification embraces the experience which we received in frames of the FSC forest management and chain of custody audits, also with the risk assessment in frames of EUTR"
"We faced a difficult but captivating task. It took us several months to prepare for the execution of this evaluation. The audit itself took two weeks. The evaluation consisted of a combination of requirements related to sustainable forest management, emissions of greenhouse gases along the entire route of woody material from the logging site to the place of pellet delivery for the buyer. As a certification body we received new and interesting experience."
Nikolay Tochilov
International leading auditor from Preferred by Nature (NEPCon)
Andrey Shchegolev
Director of the WWF Russia Forest Programme
"The WWF Russia's position on biofuels (https://wwf.ru/about/positions/proizvodstvo-drevesnoy-biomassy-biotopliva-v-rossii/) emphasizes that wood residues, as well as low-quality wood can be used for biofuel, if there is no demand for the production of other types of products During the production of pellets at the Regon-Les enterprise. As we saw at the pellet mill of the Region-Les company, low-quality pulp wood used for pellets production is not in demand of pulp and paper industry of the Arkhangelsk region. Previously, due to lack of demand, this wood was left in the forest, now it is used for the production of pellets. At the same time, other types of biomass, such as branches, roots, and dead wood are not removed from the forest, as it usually happens in Scandinavia, and the best quality wood is still used for the production of sawn timber. WWF appreciates the company's efforts to produce wood pellets responsibly in accordance with strict environmental requirements, and welcomes the company's SBP certification and Netherlands SDE + compliance. We will also be glad to see the company's further steps towards achieving carbon neutrality through the conservation of valuable forest areas, as well as introducing new approaches to thinning in secondary-growth forests."
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License code FSC-C128360
License code FSC-C128360