Lantmännen meets sustainability criteria for bioethanol
On 1 January this year the EU’s sustainability criteria for biofuel came into force, which included criteria for the sustainable production of ethanol. In 2010 Lantmännen Agroetanol and Lantmännen Lantbruk worked intensively to ensure that they would be able to meet these criteria. Lantmännen welcomes these new regulations and in 2010 a third-party inspection was carried out on its production chain to ensure that it met the sustainability criteria.
An independent third-party audit was carried out at the end of 2010 to verify that Agroetanol’s system for the sustainability of bioethanol meets the requirements of the European Renewable Energy Directive. The audit confirmed that Agroetanol does indeed meet the requirements as set out in the directive, and provided a written assurance statement to that effect. Following this independent verification, Lantmännen Agroetanol has been able to supply bioethanol from the beginning of this year that is fully in line with the EU directive.
The directive states that throughout its production chain biofuels must comply with statutory requirements for greenhouse gas performance, the protection of biodiversity, environmental protection during cultivation and land use. The criteria must guarantee that all biofuels in the EU maintains a certain standard for sustainable production conditions throughout the production chain, from cultivation to the finished fuel.
There are two climate levels that have to be achieved. Firstly there is a separate climate requirement for the cultivation stage, and secondly there is a climate requirement for the whole production chain for the finished biofuel.
“The national legislation came into force on 1 January, so at Lantmännen Agroetanol we decided to start our work to comply with the requirements set out in the directive well in advance,” says Bengt Olof Johansson, MD of Lantmännen Agroetanol. “As we are a producer and a supplier for oil companies, we need to take into consideration the whole of our production chain. This means that we have to meet requirements for traceability the whole way from the cultivation stage to the produced biofuel. Of course, it feels great that the hard work we carried out in 2010 has resulted in us meeting all the requirements, which means that we can now continue to produce bioethanol in a safe and sustainable way.”
Link to the Swedish Energy Agency
About Lantmännen Lantmännen is one of the largest groups in the agriculture, machinery, energy and food industries in the Nordic region. Lantmännen's brands include Axa, Kungsörnen, Kronfågel, GoGreen, Hatting and Gooh. Lantmännen is owned by more than 36,000 Swedish farmers. It has more than 10,000 employees, operates in 18 countries and has a turnover of SEK 36 billion. Lantmännen operates throughout the entire food processing chain, and we take responsibility from field to fork. For more information, please visit www.lantmannen.com
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