- On 11 October 2024, the European Commission announced the positive technical assessment for the PEFC RED II certification.
The European Union’s (EU) Revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) is the Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Under RED II, the European Commission (EC) can recognise voluntary certification schemes as compliant with the rules included in the RED II to help verifying that the production of fuels and energy from forest biomass complies with the EU sustainability criteria as well as relevant methodologies.
To achieve recognition from the European Commission, PEFC has developed a set of new standards: the PEFC RED II standards. The PEFC RED II scheme is built up over the PEFC Chain of custody. The positive technical assessment sends a strong signal of the PEFC RED II scheme’s availability as a market tool that will support the achievement of EU member states’ RED II targets and the legislation’s implementation across the EU. The next step is for EU countries to formally recognise the PEFC scheme.
PEFC will publish on their website the draft RED II documentation which received the EC positive technical assessment, while they work on an internal standard approval, following the PEFC standard-setting process.