RSB and CertifHy form Impact Alliance to accelerate the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy
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The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and CertifHy™ have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form an Impact Alliance aimed at accelerating the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy.
The Impact Alliance raises new opportunities for the implementation of RSB’s robust sustainability framework, that goes beyond simply avoiding sustainability risks in order to create positive impacts for livelihoods and ecosystems, by bringing it to the rapidly-developing hydrogen market, together with the trusted partner CertifHy™.
CertifHy™’s ambition is to build hydrogen and derivatives certification schemes for the hydrogen industry in order to promote the role of hydrogen and e-fuels for the energy transition. CertifHy™’s main objective is to allow economic operators to fulfil their decarbonisation targets, while capturing the premium value of renewable fuels.
As part of the MoU, CertifHy™ will be responsible for supporting the sustainability ambition as enshrined in RSB’s Principles & Criteria, eventually offering two different sets of criteria under their CertifHy™ EU RFNBO certification. CertifHy EU RFNBO will ensure compliance with RED2 criteria, and CertifHy RFNBO+RSB will ensure additional compliance with RSB’s Principles & Criteria. CertifHy™ will provide input to the development of RSB’s endorsement framework that sets the requirements for sustainability schemes joining the RSB Impact Alliance. Furthermore, CertifHy™ will support RSB in developing the Impact Alliance, and test the endorsement framework in case studies or pilot audits.
RSB’s role will be to further develop its sustainability framework relevant to hydrogen production, collaborating with CertifHy™ to develop indicators that will enable the measurement of sustainability performance and improvements. RSB will consult with CertifHy™ to develop an endorsement framework that allows CertifHy™ and Impact Alliance members to certify against RSB standards, and allows certified operators to make RSB claims.
Finally, RSB and CertifHy™ will explore collaboration pathways to accelerate the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy beyond the EU RED2 certification, namely around the development of ‘book and claim’ certification system for the global SAF market and the facilitation of high-end support mechanisms. In particular, the RSB and CertifHy™ systems will offer a strong combination to prove compliance with H2Global criteria.
“Systemic, enduring and comprehensive change is needed. We need to move away from a fossil-based, linear economy and towards a bio-based, circular economy. This transformation must be built on a robust sustainability framework to ensure that it can fulfil its promise and create real positive impacts for people and the planet,” says Elena Schmidt, RSB’s Executive Director.
“That is why RSB is forming an Impact Alliance in collaboration with CertifHy™ and other certification systems, brands, producers, NGOs and assurance providers. We look forward to working with CertifHy™ and hope that in supporting the development of a sustainable hydrogen economy, this Impact Alliance ignites the acceleration towards a bio-based and circular economy.”
“The clean hydrogen economy needs to be accelerated to maximise its role for the energy transition. This MoU is an important milestone for CertifHy™ and RSB to leverage their expertise on e-fuels and sustainability frameworks towards developing a robust certification system adapted to the urgency of climate change and the needs of the market”, said Matthieu Boisson, CertifHy™’s project coordinator.
“This is an important achievement for the development of CertifHy™. We are very excited about the opportunity to take part in the development of the Impact Alliance and to access new markets together with RSB.”
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About RSB
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is a global, multi-stakeholder and independent organisation that drives the development of a bio-based and circular economy. RSB has the world’s most trusted, peer-reviewed, global certification standard for sustainable production of alternative fuels and materials, from which it provides credible tools and solutions for sustainability that mitigate business risk and contribute to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For more information, visit https://rsb.org.
About CertifHy™
CertifHy™ is a consortium led by HINICIO that aims to advance and facilitate the production, procurement and use of non-renewable, renewable and low-carbon hydrogen. It has developed high-quality hydrogen certification schemes across Europe that will support hydrogen’s market growth, since they are a reliable tool for consumers to track hydrogen’s origin and environmental attributes. CertifHy™ has been initiated at the request of the European Commission and is financed by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership. For more information, visit https://www.certifhy.eu.
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