BioGrace project – Aligning GHG emission calculations in Europe

The BioGrace greenhouse gas (GHG) CALCULATION TOOL has been recognised as a voluntary scheme by the European Commission. It is in line with the sustainability criteria of the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC, RED) which are equally stated in the Fuel Quality Directive (2009/30/EC). The recognition is based on RED Article 18 (4-6) and refers to proving compliance of RED Article 17 (2) and RED Annex V on GHG emission saving. When a supplier uses an approved voluntary scheme to demonstrate the sustainability of biofuels, a Member State should not require the supplier to provide further evidence of compliance with the sustainability criteria.

The BioGrace voluntary scheme is a comprehensive, user-friendly GHG calculator based on Excel, featuring unanimously defined standard values, detailed calculation rules, and a user manual. It is available as a ZIP-package that contains

• BioGrace Excel tool – version 4d.xls
• BioGrace calculation rules – version 4d.pdf
• BioGrace user manual – version 4d.pdf
• BioGrace additional standard values – version 4d.xls.

The BioGrace tool is meant to be used in combination with other schemes, either national or voluntary, that cover the origin of raw materials and provide a mass balance system as well as requirements for verification. Many of the other recognised voluntary schemes allow for using BioGrace as an add-on for the calculation of GHG emission savings.

Go to the official list of recognised voluntary schemes of DG Energy.

With the updated version 4d, it is possible that the scheme holder modifies pathways or adds new pathways to the tool (see the ‘About’ sheet). These pathways are made publicly available – without any prefilled input values and with the track change mode turned to ‘on’. These pathways are not integrated in the main BioGrace I tool but published as separate files. Nevertheless, they are part of BioGrace I as a recognized tool, which means that they underlie all BioGrace I calculation rules and that they can be used in combination with other schemes. The modifications do not need to be checked by auditors as the scheme holder will make sure that all modifications are correct. The European Commission is informed about the modifications / new pathways.

Go to modified and additional pathways.

Currently the BioGrace voluntary scheme is managed by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU), one of the former project partners. The recognition is valid for a 5-year-period, that is until June 2018.