Germany’s federal cabinet has approved amendments to two sustainability regulations governing biofuels and biomass-based electricity generation, introducing stricter measures to prevent certificate fraud and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) savings requirements for certain bioenergy power plants, BioEnergy News reported.
Approved on October 28, the amendments to the Biofuel Sustainability Ordinance (Biokraft-NachV) and Biomass Electricity Sustainability Ordinance (BioSt-NachV) incorporate the sustainability provisions of the European Union’s revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) into German law.
A key change is the removal of the existing ‘protection of trust’ provision, which prevented sustainability certificates from being withdrawn retrospectively even when fraud was subsequently detected. Under the revised framework, incorrectly declared biofuels will no longer qualify towards Germany’s greenhouse gas reduction obligations.
Sustainability certificates must also be transferred or submitted to the country’s biofuel quota authority within three years. Certification bodies will face tighter oversight, while the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) will receive greater access to supply chain information and additional inspection powers. The use of the EU’s Union Database for tracking liquid and gaseous fuels will become mandatory once the system is operational.
The changes follow a 2023 controversy involving suspected mislabelling of advanced biofuels imported from China and counted towards Germany’s GHG reduction targets.
The German Biofuels Industry Association (VDB) welcomed the cabinet’s decision, stating that the prolonged fraud controversy had undermined investor confidence and delayed investments in charging infrastructure, green hydrogen, e-fuels and advanced biofuels.
The amendments also increase the minimum GHG savings requirement for biomass-based electricity installations commissioned after November 20, 2023, from 70% to 80%.
Existing installations that received support under Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) before that date will continue to follow the earlier RED II sustainability requirements. In most cases, these plants will not be required to calculate GHG savings until the end of 2030.
The revised rules also extend sustainability certification requirements to solid biomass power plants with an installed capacity of 7.5 MW or more, compared with the earlier threshold of 20 MW. Transitional arrangements will apply.
Additional provisions clarify sustainability criteria for wood-based residues, with a focus on protecting old-growth forests, peatlands, heathlands and other environmentally sensitive areas.
The Federal Bioenergy Association (BBE) had welcomed certain changes in the draft regulations, particularly the removal of forestry definitions that went beyond RED III. However, it criticised the absence of additional default values and simplified GHG calculation methods, as well as Germany’s decision not to adopt the EU directive’s simplified verification option for installations between 7.5 MW and 20 MW.
Germany missed the May 2025 deadline for incorporating RED III’s bioenergy sustainability provisions into national legislation. The delay had created uncertainty among industry operators over the requirements applicable to existing installations.
The cabinet’s approval comes amid continuing uncertainty over Germany’s broader biomass policy. The government recently confirmed that it currently has no plans to develop a National Biomass Strategy (NABIS), which was intended to establish priorities for the use of limited biomass resources across electricity, heating, transport and industrial applications.
In a parliamentary response published on October 14, the government reiterated biomass’s importance to climate objectives and energy security. It expects demand for biogenic fuels in heating to increase but acknowledged that it does not yet have a comprehensive assessment of biomass production and energy consumption across Germany.
The amended ordinances will come into force the day after their publication in the Federal Law Gazette and do not require approval from the Bundesrat.
