2010-04-30

In Switzerland, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels offered a a reaction of the RSB Secretariat to the resignation letters of the European Biodiesel Board and eBIO that were published in the Digest earlier this week.

“The biofueldigest.com published in its issue of April27, 2010, excerpts of letters with which eBio and EBB announced their withdrawal from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). We regret that these associations chose to leave this multi-stakeholder initiative and thank them for their contribution.

In his letter to the Chair and the Executive Secretary of the RSB Raffaello Garofalo, former Vice-Chair of RSB Chamber 2 and member of the RSB Steering Board, asked us to circulate the letter in order to inform the other members of the Steering Board of his decision, which we did. As the biofueldigest.com published parts of the letter and hence informed a wider public, I feel it is my responsibility to ensure publication of the entire letter in order to respect Raffaello’s wish.

EBB’s letter points to the importance of developing a workable and pragmatic certification system for sustainable biofuels. I think I am right to say that we all share this view. This is the reason why the RSB is conducting pilot tests of our standard. We want to make sure that the system we developed together works in the field and the supply chains.

The rest of the EBB letter makes various claims, e.g. that the RSB works with “obscure consultants” and “ambiguous organizations”. We strongly reject these unfounded allegations and invite the authors of the letter, for the good of all other RSB stakeholders, to identify such organizations.

The RSB has always depended on the input and assistance of a variety of organizations to develop and finalize the RSB Standards. We are very proud to work with excellent, and in many cases world renown, specialized organizations and experts, be it as members or external consultants. As an associate member of ISEAL, and an organization that emphasizes the importance of open processes, we have always been very transparent about whom we work with. The RSB Secretariat will certainly do its utmost to keep the standards of collaboration and transparency high.

Let me conclude by saying that the Roundtable will continue to pursue its objective of ensuring that biofuels deliver on their promise of sustainability. The EBB and eBio are welcome to rejoin the RSB at a future date when the priorities of the three organizations coincide again.”

Alwin Kopse
Executive Secretary of the RSB
http://www.ascension-publishing.com/BIZ/EBB-RSB.pdf