December 6, 2023

On 1 December 2022 ISCC held its first event on “Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBOs)”. Around 360 participants from around the world joined the online meeting, which speaks volumes about the importance of the subject. A huge thank you to everyone who participated!

The session began with a presentation by John Neeft from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on the Dutch RFNBO certification pilot project, in which ISCC participated. The pilot was conducted to assess whether the requirements are workable for companies and auditable by certification bodies. To date, none of the companies have been able to fully meet the requirements, but it is expected that the significant challenges will be overcome and compliance possible. During the subsequent presentation by Gareth Mottram and Nick Matthews from the UK Department for Transport, we learned how the UK treats RFNBOs in contrast to the EU approach.

Juliane Pohl from ISCC then presented the status of the ISCC EU, ISCC PLUS and ISCC CORSIA certification approaches for RFNBOs, with ISCC PLUS being the scheme under which RFNBOs can already be certified as of today. She also highlighted the criteria for renewable electricity as a feedstock, namely renewability, additionality, temporal and geographic correlation. We learned from HIF‘s Adam Pedinian Mohr about the RFNBO demonstration plant “Haru Oni” in southern Chile, where constant winds make RFNBO production relatively cost-effective. He highly emphasized the importance of ISCC certification for RFNBO producers, investors and customers, as it gives the product its high value. Gerald Hammerschmid from Sunfire talked about electrolysis options for RFNBO production.

To conclude the event, Julia Nevares of Meo Carbon Solutions gave an introduction to calculating the GHG impacts of RFNBOs, highlighting that the distinction between elastic and rigid inputs is critical as it affects GHG outcomes, which for RFNBOs must achieve a 70% savings according to the REDII. All presentations were highly informative and leave us with anticipation for future stakeholder discussions and ISCC system developments. We thank all speakers and look forward to bringing RFNBOs to market together!