What is the Union Database (UDB)?
The Union Database is a register of evidence in the biofuel sector, which is set up and operated by the EU Commission. It is intended to enable better traceability of gaseous and liquid (bio)fuels. This is intended to avoid double counting and double marketing of sustainability properties. The greenhouse gas savings of a bioenergy quantity are counted towards the German biofuel quota and the EU ETS. The establishment and operation of the Union database reduces the risk of fraud. By recording the biomass, the Union database prevents large quantities of palm oil from being falsely declared as biodiesel in other EU countries. The link to biomass should be available for these quantities in the UDB.
Establishment of the Union database in accordance with RED II
The "Renewable Energy Directive" (RED II) regulates the establishment and operation of the Union database in § 28 (2) and (4). The Commission shall establish a Union database that enables the tracking of liquid and gaseous transport fuels and allows them to be counted towards the numerator in accordance with Article 27(1)(b).
Or be taken into account for the purposes of the first subparagraph of Article 29(1). Member States shall require the economic operators concerned to provide information in that database on the transactions carried out and the sustainability characteristics of those fuels. This shall include their life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, from the place of their production to the fuel supplier placing them on the market. Member States may set up a national database linked to the Union database. They must ensure that data entered is immediately transferred between the databases.".
Who all has to enter data in the UDB and use it?
According to RED II, all gaseous and liquid fuels in the transport sector are to be recorded in the UDB. This includes biofuels, bioliquids and sustainable gases. These include biomethane and hydrogen. Renewable fuels of non-biological origin(RFNBOs) and recycled carbon fuels are also to be included. From RED III onwards, the scope is to be extended to the biomass sector. This will then be used for heating/cooling and electricity production and will also be included in the Union database.
Scope of the UDB
As the scope of the UDB is not limited to the last interface, as is the case with Nabisy, for example, the circle of users is correspondingly larger. Currently, all economic operators along the biofuel value chain must register and store data from the biomass collection point onwards. This means that every trader of biomass who collects biomass such as silage maize, manure or municipal waste would have to register in the Union database. The places of origin of biomass, such as farms or restaurants in the case of kitchen waste, are currently exempt. However, they must continue to issue their self-declarations to the collector of the biomass in the system of their choice, such as REDcert-EU, ISCC-EU, SURE, BetterBiomass or others.
Biomass in the UDB
These biomasses are then recorded by the biomass collector in the UDB as a "transaction of the buyer at the place of origin" with the linked sustainability characteristics. The first gathering party/collector of the biomass can then pass it on to another economic operator, e.g. a biogas plant. Collectors must report the transfer/transaction in the UDB within 72 hours. Conversions of biomass must also be recorded. In the case of biomethane, this could be biogas production, for example, where biogas is produced from a volume of biomass such as dry chicken manure.
Different designations of biomass in the registers
It is tricky that there are different biomass designations in the various registers and systems. For example, the UDB currently recognizes "manure", "manure with organic waste" and "manure with organic waste and energy crops" in the case of liquid manure. The ISCC material list, on the other hand, only recognizes "manure". Registers such as Nabisy, on the other hand, take into account not only the source material but also the production process in their biomass codes. These codes take into account whether waste gas combustion has taken place and whether a closed fermentation residue storage facility is available. For example, there are 4 different codes for biomethane from liquid manure, which also take into account: "Biomethane from liquid manure (all animal species); closed fermentation residue storage; waste gas incineration".
What are the first steps with the UDB?
The first step with the UDB for all economic operators is the recording of initial stocks. According to the UDB documentation, this is required for all economic operators from 01.01.2024. Users must first create all suppliers. The user can then navigate to "Entry of initial stocks":
There, users record the stock for a biomass or also for intermediate products such as biogas as well as end products such as biomethane under "Record initial stock".
If the economic operator clicks on this button, a menu opens. This is where users enter biomass-related data and PoS data.
As there is currently no way to correct incorrectly entered biomass after final storage, caution is advised when entering data.
We will be happy to assist you with any questions you may have about UDB administration, greenhouse gas value calculation and mass balancing.
