I would like to update you on some key developments related to the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). As you may know, the RSB is the global multi-stakeholder initiative that is developing Principles and Criteria (P&C) for the production of “better biofuels.” These P&C will provide the basis for a certification system that the RSB plans to establish in 2010, which will enable purchasers to seek out liquid fuels that contain better biofuels. The RSB was initiated in 2007 and has already made significant progress:

Version 0.5 Released

The first draft of the P&C (called “Version Zero”) was published in
2008 and has undergone a wide public comment process. Comments on “Version Zero” were submitted by interested stakeholders electronically or through public stakeholder consultations held in over a dozen countries in 2008-09. These comments were then discussed on conference calls among stakeholders who joined one of several RSB working groups. Working group recommendations were then discussed by the RSB Steering Board.

At the last meeting of the Steering Board in June, a number of specific provisions were decided on to move toward finalizing the P&C. The new draft based on these Board discussions is called “Version 0.5," and was released August 10, 2009. Version 0.5 can be downloaded in full (as a PDF file) at http://bit.ly/RSBNewVersion. (This draft may undergo further revisions over the next few months, but when the Principles & Criteria are finally ready to be issued, this will be called “Version
1.”)

New Governance system & chambers

In May, the RSB transitioned to a new member and chamber-based governance structure. The Working Groups have been dissolved, and discussions on the draft P&C will now continue through 11 sector-specific Chambers, comprised of members coming from different stakeholder communities. Each Chamber elects 2 of their members to represent them on the new Steering Board, a board that will be comprised exclusively of elected chamber representatives. In order to realize a balance between the North and the South within the chambers, most chambers will have a representative from a Southern country and a Northern country. (See http://cgse.epfl.ch/page77270.html for a more complete explanation of the new board, the chambers and the process to join the RSB).

If you would like to join what are sure to be interesting and important upcoming deliberations, not only on the P&C but also on the key decisions on the establishment of the new certification system, please contact the RSB  to express your interest, and state which Chamber would represent your interest community. We hope that all views will be represented, so we encourage you to consider joining one of the Chambers today.

New chair of RSB steering board

It was my honor to have been elected in June to serve as Chair of the new RSB Steering Board. The previous Chair of the founding board of the RSB was Claude Martin, and at the June meeting, where the newly established elected Board was installed, both the new and the old Boards thanked him profusely for his service in leading the RSB through its first two years of existence.  The new Steering Board is made up of 2 representatives from each of the eleven stakeholder Chambers, and is responsible for overseeing the standards drafting process and establishment of a certification system, in accordance with the ISEAL Alliance Code of Good Practice for Standard Setting. You can learn more about the Steering Board by visiting http://cgse.epfl.ch/page67476-en.html.

Secretariat Changes

We have had a transition in the RSB Secretariat as well. I would like to congratulate Mr. Alwin Kopse, who was selected in July as the new Head of the RSB Secretariat, succeeding Ms. Charlotte Opal, who did a magnificent job of leading the Secretariat since its establishment.
Charlotte is a new mother and also currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Stan dards Committee at Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) International. Mr. Kopse has had a successful career in business and government, and most recently was a research fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. To learn more about the RSB team, please visit  http://cgse.epfl.ch/page67785-en.html.

I hope that you will continue to have an active interest in and involvement with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels as it moves forward. If you are not already a member of one of the RSB Chambers, we would welcome you to join. In this way you can be part of this global initiative to create a set of standards and guidelines to promote “better biofuels” and to establish a certification system to implement these guidelines.

Please contact me or the Secretariat staff (at email rsb@epfl.ch) with any questions you may have.


Sincerely,

Barbara Bramble