Ground Transport

Every single day, billions of journeys are made on roads around the world. Carrying people, food, essential products, freight and more, vehicles of all sizes transverse millions of kilometers to keep the global economy turning. The search for energy security tied to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has become a global priority in recent decades – and ground transport via road, which currently contributes over 70% of total transport emissions, is a major frontier in this search. Bio-based and advanced fuels for ground transport offer the potential to reduce many of the harmful social and environmental impacts associated with the sector, while reducing GHG emissions.

GROUND TRANSPORT FAST FACTS

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WHAT NEXT FOR THE GROUND TRANSPORT SECTOR?

With its huge global footprint, the ground transport sector is looking to some key interventions to achieve its sustainability goals.

The sector is looking for solutions today.

  • INCREASED CIRCULARITY
  • REDUCED GHG EMISSIONS
  • NEW TECHNOLOGIES

  • INCREASED CIRCULARITY

    Using waste as a feedstock to supply the energy for the transportation sector has the potential to increase circularity and dramatically decrease pressure on natural resources and reduce environmental impacts, particularly those associated with fossil resource extraction.

  • REDUCED GHG EMISSIONS

    The ground transport sector is dominated by fossil fuels producing huge volumes of greenhouse gas emissions. Using fuel alternatives – particularly from bio-based and recycled sources – the sector can radically decarbonise without major technological interventions required.

  • NEW TECHNOLOGIES

    New technologies for the transportation sector hold great promise for long-term decarbonisation, efficiency and sustainability. Promising technologies include hydrogen and fuel-cells, advanced fermentation and hydro-treatment, steam gasification and other thermochemical processes.

Practical Solutions for the Ground Transport Sector

The RSB’s pioneering approach drives continuous improvement and adaptation to new market challenges and opportunities. With credible solutions, innovative and advanced approaches to the latest sustainability challenges in supporting the ground transport sector, we can deliver clear benefits and value to partners across the supply chain.

RSB CERTIFICATION

RSB’s Global Fuel Certification ensures environmental and social benefits, including zero deforestation; a verified and robust GHG emission reduction; and traceability from the feedstock source to the final customer.

Certification against RSB EU RED includes compliance with the requirements of the European Renewable Energy Directive and operators can register with Nabisy.

RSB’s approach enables credible claims on fuel sustainability, unlocking markets and assisting operators to demonstrate compliance with regulations as well as their progress towards climate and other goals, including SDGs.

RSB enables the certification of fuels made from:

  • Primary biogenic sources
  • End-of-life products and production residues (biogenic)
  • Fossil-based wastes
  • Renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin
  • Co-processing biogenic with fossil fuels
Get Certified

ADVANCED FUELS

RSB’s approach to waste and residues in its Standard for Advanced Fuels ensures robust traceability for wastes and residues, as well as real sustainability in processing units with a particular focus on the specific risks in play at these facilities – such as management of water and effluents.

The Standard for Advanced Fuels ensures that producers of non-traditional alternative fuels – such as those produced from fossil fuel waste – are able to achieve RSB’s rigorous sustainability certification.

This approach can support the ground transport industry to overcome many of the challenges associated with 1st generation biofuels – such as ILUC and GHG emissions, biodiversity and food security – and supports innovative solutions for the next generations of sustainable alternative aviation fuels.

GHG CALCULATOR

RSB’s Greenhouse Gas calculator is a market-leading tool based on fewer default values and more real activity testing to deliver extremely reliable outcomes when compared with other calculators. It can be used by operators getting certified to both RSB’s Global and EU RED Fuels solutions.

WASTE & RESIDUES

RSB’s approach to waste and residues in its Standard for Advanced Fuels ensures robust traceability for waste and residues, as well as real sustainability in processing units with a particular focus on the specific risks in play at these facilities – such as management of water and effluents.

LOW ILUC RISK

With our focus on food security in our Principles and Criteria and the practical development of tools like our low ILUC risk module, as well as a stringent requirement for stakeholder consultation to ensure that issues that might impact local food production, such as water access, are identified, RSB’s approach to food security is extremely robust.

RSB Advisory Services

RSB offers a range of tailored advisory services to unlock our expertise and promote sustainability in the ground transport sector.

FUEL SOURCING

Support to formulate fuel sourcing policies that consider sustainability risks and unintended consequences.

RISK ASSESSMENT

Develop sustainability risk assessments for different fuel pathways – covering feedstock production, GHG assessment, fuel processing.

RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

Sustainable feedstock resource assessments uncover the potential feedstock production capacity at regional, national and international level based on sustainability criteria and regional, crop and temporal specific conditions

GAP ANALYSIS

RSB can conduct GAP analyses and risk assessments at farm and industrial level to identify key sustainability risks and existing sustainability management practices.

CERTIFICATION SUPPORT

RSB’s team of experts can help guide you through the process of preparing for your RSB certification.

CHAIN OF CUSTODY

RSB can help you assess your Chain of Custody approaches and methodologies to ensure credibility.

RSB's Ground Transport Team

Carolina Grassi
Business Development Lead - Latin America // Sector Lead: Ground Transport

Carolina leads RSB’s Business Development work in Latin America, as well as our sector focus on ground transport. A biologist with a Ph.D. in genetics and an MBA in Business Management, Carolina has dedicated her professional career to helping to […]

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Arianna Baldo
Sector Lead: Aviation

Arianna leads RSB’s work in the aviation sector. At RSB she is coordinating a project in partnership with WWF South Africa and supported by the Boeing Global Engagement Programme that is researching and developing options for Sustainable Aviation Fuels, as […]

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Aurea Nardelli, PhD
Certification Manager and Technical Advisor

Aurea has overall responsibility for RSB’s certification system – providing support and oversight to everyone involved in RSB certification, from assurance and certification bodies to auditors and operators. Alongside this important work she is using her 20 years of experience […]

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Simone P. Souza
Project and Business Development Analyst

Simone works on various RSB projects and is a member of our Business Development Team. She is an environmental engineer who holds a PhD in Energy Planning from University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in association with the Biorenewables National Laboratory (LNBr). […]

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Testimonial

Germany's oldest eco label, Blauer Engel (Blue Angel), found that RSB is the only certification system for biomass that fulfil their own rigorous requirements to be recognised under their own approach.

Blue Angel

WHY RSB

By 2030, the RSB will have supported the emergence of a new world bioeconomy founded on social, economic and environmental considerations that contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – reducing climate impacts, enhancing food security and rural development, and protecting ecosystems.

With credible solutions, global expertise, partners across the spectrum from government to industry and NGOs, and an extremely robust approach to sustainability, RSB is the partner of choice for the aviation industry as it seeks to fulfil its global commitments to greenhouse gas reduction while also ensuring social development and environmental protection.

RSB is a member-led organisation which represents a worldwide movement of businesses, NGOs, academics, government and UN organisations that have demonstrated their commitment to the development of the sustainable bioeconomy by working together to create our most trusted Standard.

The RSB Standard is the strongest and most trusted of its kind, recognised as such by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).