Annual Report 2014 © Copyright 2014, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) 1 Cover Design and Layout: Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) Cover Photo Credit: Solaris energy tobacco field in Limpopo, South Africa, Photo Credit: Sunchem Acknowledgements: RSB would like to thank its staff for contributing to this annual report, including Sébastien Haye, Reet Sarnik, Melanie Williams, Matt Rudolf, Aurea Nardelli, Anne Uyeda, and Helena Kennedy as well as the RSB members, Board of Directors, Certified Operators and other supporters for helping with photographs and other material. Comments or Questions: If you have comments or questions regarding this annual report, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We appreciate your feedback as well as suggestions for improvement. Copyright Notice © Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials, 2014 Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, save where otherwise stated. Information about the RSB is available at www.rsb.org. © Copyright 2014, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) 2 Contents 1. Message from the Chair ............................................................................................................................ 4 2. Note from the Executive Director ............................................................................................................. 5 3. 2014 Highlights ......................................................................................................................................... 6 4. Growing Commitment to RSB ................................................................................................................... 8 5. Smallholder Program .............................................................................................................................. 12 6. Standards ................................................................................................................................................ 14 7. Communications ..................................................................................................................................... 16 8. Governance ............................................................................................................................................. 18 9. Certified Entities ...................................................................................................................................... 23 10. Events .................................................................................................................................................... 27 11. Financial Update ................................................................................................................................... 29 12. Take Action! .......................................................................................................................................... 31 Annex: RSB Member Organizations as of December 2014 ......................................................................... 32 © Copyright 2014, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) 3 1. Message from the Chair Dear Friends, Having represented National Wildlife Federation in the RSB since RSB’s beginning in 2007, I am proud to have seen it develop into a standard being implemented around the globe. We are now seeing the impact of fulfilling our mission of ensuring the sustainability of biomaterials. 2014 was an exciting year for RSB! Our certification and standard sides came together under one roof to improve efficiencies in administrative functions. Our important relationship with leading companies in the aviation industry who see the long- term benefits of sustainable aviation biofuels is moving into the operational stage. Our smallholder initiative grew in Africa and expanded to Brazil with projects on the ground in the process of becoming RSB certified, to demonstrate the potential to improve smallholders’ livelihoods through sustainable feedstock production. A scheduled 5-year review of the RSB standard was initiated, in order to enhance clarity, improve utility, and update certain features; you will hear more about that in 2015. The number of RSB certifications grew to a total of 17, using a variety of feedstocks in a variety of countries. Our membership continues to strengthen and attract diverse groups from around the world! We envision 2015 to build on the foundations we have put in place in 2014. RSB certified biojet fuel coming online, continued smallholder program expansion, increased RSB certifications around the world across diverse feedstocks, and more value for and involvement of RSB members are in our future. We continue to look to our members for inspiration, support and good ideas – so keep them coming. Thanks for being part of the RSB! Sincerely, Barbara Bramble Board Chair of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials © Copyright 2014, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) 4 2. Note from the Executive Director Dear Friends, 2014 has been a very important year for RSB. As an integrated organisation with streamlined communications we have seen certification and membership grow steadily. We had RSB’s first certification of bio-chemical production as well as our first joint certification with the Forest Stewardship Council. There was also strong growth in the waste sector where RSB has a competitive advantage on upstream verification. RSB continues to grow and expand its engagement with industry leaders around the world who want to promote their positive sustainability performance, especially in the aviation, advanced biofuel, bioplastic, and biochemical sectors. Improvements to the standard and procedures have also made the RSB certification system more user- friendly and streamlining will continue in 2015. We added a new smallholder standard to help further our goal of helping smallholders around the world access markets through certification and improve their livelihoods. 2014 also kicked-off smallholder certification projects in South Africa, Brazil and Sri Lanka that will be scaled-up in 2015. NGOs including World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) have endorsed RSB as the world’s leading scheme for biomaterials in their comparisons of certification schemes. Unilever has also recognised that RSB meets its Sustainable Agriculture Code. Thanks to increased outreach, public visibility, measured by press coverage and social media attention to RSB, also increased substantially in 2014 and continues to grow. During 2015 we will focus on growing certification, further streamlining the standard, adding value to RSB membership, scaling up smallholder activities, and strengthening the institutional foundation of the RSB through fundraising and project development. We are very excited about our evolution, and thank our Board of Directors, Assembly of Delegates and all members and partners who have provided their support in 2014. Their involvement is essential to all aspects of our work and contributes to our success. Rolf Hogan Executive Director of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials © Copyright 2014, Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) 5 3. 2014 Highlights 1. RSB Continues to be Rated Best Certification System NGOs continue to be supportive of RSB. A 2014 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) concluded that RSB is the best performing of the seven leading biofuel certification schemes it examined. Despite different methodologies, and varying numbers and set of standard schemes examined, the 2014 NRDC report concurred with 2013 WWF and IUCN NL reports that RSB is the strongest, most robust, and most comprehensive of the compared schemes. Also, a 2014 SSI report “State of Sustainability Initiatives Review 2014: Standards and the Green Economy” states RSB is the only initiative demonstrating 100% coverage of all three SSI greenhouse gas indicators. 2. RSB Certifications RSB awarded certification to seven new biofuel and feedstock producers who met the RSB standard for a total of 17 certified operators as of December 2014. They come from all around the world and use a variety of feedstocks. These producers are listed in Section 9 of this document. A further four operators were in the process of certification at years’ end. 3. Streamlining of RSB Standard and Certification System RSB progressively implemented recommendations on how to make our system more business-friendly, simple and cost-competitive. In 2014, we revised and merged 22 standards and procedures documents, making it simpler, clearer and more cost effective than ever to get certified. 4. Smallholder Program Expansion RSB’s General Assembly approved a new smallholder standard which aims to provide small producers with additional flexibility in the compliance process. RSB continued the smallholder program to support small farmers in Asia and expanded into Southern Africa and Brazil. In Brazil, the RSB is supporting the certification of a macaúba palm tree project in Minas Gerais state. In South Africa, RSB supported capacity building of a smallholder cooperative and commercial farmers growing Solaris energy tobacco. For more information see the smallholder section of the RSB website. 5. Increased Public Recognition RSB made proactive efforts in 2014 to gain media attention through a variety of communication strategies and tools including social media, email newsletters, press releases, publishing articles