One tool to evaluate all sustainability certification schemes and labels for biobased systems

Iris, you are coordinator of the immense project. What was the biggest surprise you encountered in the first two years?

“Well, we knew that there were many different CSLs out there. However, what we found is that it is very hard to create an evaluation tool that does right by all of them. Some only take into account a portion of the big sustainability puzzle, whereas others offer certifications based on a wide array of indicators. This provides a problem. For instance, you don’t want the BMS to evaluate the handling of societal factors by ecolabels that are intended to focus only on the environmental aspects. That would give a faulty evaluation. So how to design a tool that is applicable to all these different CSLs is a big challenge.”

And, how is that working out?

“We have created a wonderful way to assess all the CSLs for biobased systems out there, by including a ‘scope defining’ evaluation in the beginning of the BMS. The tool itself takes a comprehensive approach with equal consideration of all three pillars of sustainability (i.e., environment, social, and economic), as well as set of requirements for circularity. All the schemes can be tested, but with the scope definition the user selects which sustainability aspects are to be taken into account. This way, only those sustainability aspects applicable to the CSL at hand are evaluated.”

How does this research help the circular bioeconomy?

“To ensure that the transition to circular biobased systems occurs sustainably, it is essential to evaluate the performance of the existing CSLs. ​Our tool (the BMS) will increase transparency regarding the effectiveness, robustness and comprehensiveness of existing CSLs in the European market. This information incentivizes their owners to improve their systems by identifying gaps and potential weaknesses. It also facilitates the harmonization of their systems regarding shared sustainability and governance criteria. Thereby encouraging continuous improvement of sustainability of biobased products and paving the way of using these CSLs as a co-regulation instrument.”

What do you hope for the final year of this project?

“We have already carried out drafting of the BMS and tested it with a first set of CSLs. Now we like to boost our engagements with the targeted stakeholders, bring forward our findings and insights generated in the project and receive their feedback. This includes, beside the CSL owners, also policy makers and biobased industrial actors. This will not only improves the BMS, but also increase its chances for its future applicability beyond the project. ”

Of what aspect are you most proud?

“Firstly, I’m very happy with how the BMS is shaping up to be. It is really a relevant aid to enable an assessment of the performance of existing sustainability CSLs. But secondly, I’m proud of the cooperation we are having with partners. Originally, we were supposed to work together in this project with only five partners as part of the SUSTCERT4BIOBASED consortium. However, we found that parts of our research overlapped with the two other Horizon Europe projects funded under the same call. Accordingly, we decided to join forces and formed the BIOBASEDCERT cluster. This allows us to build on each other’s knowledge and experience and avoid competition. We believe this increases the chances of continued use of the BMS beyond our projects. This does mean that we are now collaborating with about 25 partners. And I’m very excited that this is working out really well.”

SUSTCERT4BIOBASED is a Horizon Europe project. Watch the video for more information on the project. Do you want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to the SUSTCERT4BIOBASED-newsletter