Market Applications

Understand how ISCC Certification works for businesses operating different commodities for various markets

Choose the certification system

ISCC is a sustainability certification system for all feedstocks and markets. Depending on the market you would like to supply your sustainable material to, a certain certification system has to be chosen.

The core requirements of ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS are harmonised. With only one audit, two certificates can be issued to supply all markets!

	ISCC PLUS	ISCC EU	ISCC Solid Biomass NL	ISCC Non-GMO
Market/scope of application	Circular and bio-based products, renewables, food, feed, biofuels outside EU	Biofuels in EU	Energy	Food, feed, completely independent from the general ISCC certification on environmental, social and economic sustainability on farm level
Seal
Recognition	Voluntary certification for non-regulated markets. Recognized by SAI, Unilever, CocaCola and Fefac1	Recognised by the European Commission (EC) to demonstrate compliance with RED and FQD	Recognised by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat, EZK)	Compliance with thresholds according to EC regulation on genetically modified food and feed2 and alignment with EC Genetic Engineering Implementation Act3
Acceptance of other schemes	Only ISCC (ISCC certification of the whole upstream supply chain required).4 Acceptance of further schemes possible upon positive benchmarking	Acceptance of all national and VS that are recognised by the EC5	Only ISCC (ISCC certification of the whole upstream supply chain required).4 Acceptance of further schemes possible upon positive benchmarking	VLOG
Materials covered	All types of agricultural and forestry raw materials, waste and residues, biogas and algae, renewable feedstocks of non-biological origin (e.g. renewable energy from wind or water), bacteria and carbon capture and utilisation for transport purposes	All types of agricultural and forestry raw materials, waste and residues, biogas and algae	All types of agricultural and forestry raw materials, agricultural waste and processing residues	All types of agricultural materials
Voluntary add-ons (see below)	Environmental management & biodiversity, classified chemicals, non-GMO, GHG emission, consumables, SAI Gold	Not applicable	Not applicable	Can easily be combined with sustainability certification requirements such as ISCC PLUS

¹ For further information see “Recognitions”
² Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003
³ §3a and 3b EG-GenTDurchfG
⁴ Exception applicable for SAI compliant material cultivated in Germany
⁵ For waste and residues, schemes are only accepted upon a positive benchmark. For further information see “Acceptance of other schemes”

ISCC DE

Germany was the first EU member state to implement certification for sustainable bioenergy production using voluntary certification systems. In this framework, ISCC DE was the first certification system being recognized by the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) in 2010 according to the German Sustainability Ordinances (Biokraft-NachV und BioSt-NachV). Companies selling biofuel on the German market were able to demonstrate with ISCC DE that the biofuel was produced sustainably.

In 2011 the European Commission recognized ISCC EU as one of the first sustainability certification schemes in the framework of the the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). Since then, companies are able to demonstrate compliance with the sustainability requirements of the RED in all EU all member states by using ISCC EU, including Germany. ISCC DE certification is therefore no longer required to demonstrate compliance with the sustainability requirements on the German market.

ISCC voluntary add-ons

Additionally to the core requirements of ISCC PLUS, interested parties can choose from a set of voluntary add-ons. These add-ons are modules that either apply to the agricultural production area or to the whole supply chain:

• Add-on 202-01 – Environmental management and biodiversity
  Supports farmers to conserve and improve the conditions of soil fertility, water and biodiversity and to reduce energy consumption.
• Add-on 202-02 – Classified chemicals
  Sets a ban for extremely hazardous chemicals and provides requirements for the phase out of moderately hazardous chemicals.
• Add-on 202-03 – SAI Gold
  ISCC PLUS has been determined equivalent to the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) FSA Silver level. To fulfil the requirements of the SAI FSA Gold level, a certain set of ISCC “minor must” criteria has to be fulfilled.
• Add-on 205-01 – GHG Emission Requirements
  Calculation methodology and verification of greenhouse gas emissions along the supply chain, including biomass production, conversion as well as transport and distribution.
• Add-on 205-02 – Consumables
  Calculation methodology of the amount of all relevant consumables (e.g. water, fuels, electricity) along the supply chain, including biomass production, conversion as well as transport and distribution.
• Add-on 205-3 – Non GMO food/ feed
  Requirements for the certification of crops not containing genetically modified organisms or for downstream Non GMO raw materials for the food and feed markets.
• Add-on 205-04 – Non GMO technical markets
  Requirements for the certification of crops claiming not to contain genetically modified organisms for technical markets.

 Further information on the ISCC add-ons can be found within the ISCC PLUS section of the ISCC System Documents overview.