Europe is the prime export destination for Australian canola for use in the biodiesel industry, at times buying up to 80% of Australia’s canola exports. As part of the European Union’s (EU) target to improve energy efficiency, from January 2018 canola accepted into the EU biodiesel industry has to meet a greenhouse gas emissions savings requirement of 50% to 60%, up from 35%. To ensure Australian canola meets EU sustainability requirements, bulk handlers, farmers and traders are required to be certified as meeting those requirements under a scheme called International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC).

To make compliance easier for farmers, the Australian Oilseed Federation established a Central Office made up of Australia’s major canola exporters to simplify and streamline the paperwork and audit requirements for farmers. CHS Broadbent joined the Central Office in 2019 to ensure farmers delivering their canola to our storage and handling facilities have multiple

markets to sell their canola seed into, including the EU biodiesel industry. 

There are specific requirements farmers must meet to become certified as producing sustainable canola including:

• Demonstrate you’ve sustainably produced a crop in line with the EU Biofuel Directive.
• Show canola has not been grown on land converted from areas such as primary forest, wooded land, nature protected

areas, highly biodiverse grasslands, wetlands and peatland after 2008.

• Demonstrate you utilise good agricultural practice.
• Provide documentation including; spray diaries, agronomist recommendations, soil tests and paddock records as well as
• show how your chemicals and fertilisers are stored, applied and disposed of.

For more information on compliance and how the certification and audit process work, download this Sustainable Canola Fact Sheet from the Australian Oilseeds Federation.

If you meet the requirements for sustainable canola and wish to become certified to access the EU biodiesel market this harvest, completing an ISCC declaration is easy. Visit ngr.com.au and logon to myNGR to complete the declaration online or call NGR on 1800 556 630.

If you have any questions on how the process works, don’t hesitate to reach out to the CHS Broadbent team.