The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is pleased to announce that RSB has a new name. Following a decision during a recent meeting of the RSB Assembly of Delegates, the new name of the organization is “Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials”.

The name change reflects RSB’s expansion of scope – a decision originally taken in 2010 – to apply its standards to biomass that is being used for other products in addition to biofuels. There is a large range of biomaterials including bio-plastics, cosmetics, food additives and bio-chemicals. Many producers sell their biomass into supply chains that cover biofuel and other biomaterials. By expanding our scope to cover biomaterials, this enables the RSB to promote sustainable production in a whole new range of products and markets.

“Our goal remains to provide and promote the global standard for socially, environmentally and economically sustainable production and conversion of biomaterial,” said Rolf Hogan, Executive Secretary of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials. “We hope everyone is as excited about this evolution as we are, and that our members and partners will continue to support us as we cover new ground.”

“This is a great opportunity for any feedstock operator or producer, especially those who produce and sell a variety of products to several industries,” said Peter Ryus, CEO of RSB Services Foundation. “This means that if an operator earns RSB certification, all their product lines are certified, not just the biofuel portion.”

The RSB’s short name and logo, and the www.rsb.org and www.rsbservices.org website URLs will remain the same. We will continue to refer to “RSB” as our abbreviated name. Only the full name logos and website references will have the word “Biofuels” replaced with “Biomaterials”.

About RSB

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials has developed a global sustainability standard and certification system for biomaterials production. The RSB sustainability standard represents a global consensus of over 100 organizations including farmers, refiners, regulators and NGOs, and was designed to ensure the sustainability of biomaterials production while streamlining compliance for industry. More information: www.rsb.org

RSB is a member of the ISEAL Alliance, which defines codes of good practices for standard-setting organisations.

RSB