Certified and non certified material are not the same product at two prices; they are two products with different buyers. Certification exists because fuel suppliers have obligations they can only meet with documented material, so the difference reflects what a buyer can do with it rather than any quality difference. Non certified material is not worthless: it has its own outlets, and for some of them the certification would add nothing.
- 1Origin of the material
- 2Chain of custody
- 3Mass balance bookkeeping
- 4Scheme certificate
- 5Claim on the invoice
A claim is only as good as the weakest box to its left.
The difference is about what the buyer can count, not about quality
Two parcels of used cooking oil can be chemically indistinguishable and still trade far apart. That is not a quality judgement. A fuel supplier with an obligation under the Renewable Energy Directive can only meet it with material that carries documentation back through the chain. Without that, the litre does not count towards anything, whatever it burns like.
So the question to ask about an offer is not whether the oil is good. It is which buyer can use it, and what that buyer is able to do with it once it arrives.
What moves the difference
The gap is not a fixed number and does not move for one reason. These are the factors we see behind it in practice, and they are worth checking one by one before you compare two offers:
- Which Annex IX category the material falls in. Part A and Part B sit under different sub-targets and caps, so the same certification can be worth materially different amounts depending on the letter.
- Which member state the volume lands in. National implementation of the targets differs, and so does what a supplier there is short of.
- Which scheme. ISCC EU is what most of this trade runs on, but some markets ask for a national scheme, and holding the wrong one is close to holding none for that buyer.
- Whether the chain is complete. A certified producer does not make a certified chain. If a link in the middle is not in the system, the material arrives as non certified regardless of where it started.
- Where the material is in its own cycle. Feedstocks that only became eligible recently behave differently from ones that have traded for a decade.
Non certified material has its own market
It is worth saying plainly, because sellers sometimes assume the opposite: material without certification is not stranded. Oleochemical, technical and industrial outlets buy on specification and do not need a sustainability chain, and for a buyer outside the fuel obligation the certification adds cost without adding use.
We place both. What we will not do is take an uncertified parcel to a buyer whose whole reason for buying is the obligation, because that wastes everyone's week.
How to compare two offers that are not on the same basis
Most of the confusion we are asked to sort out comes from comparing offers that are not comparable. Before you put two numbers side by side, make sure you have the same five things for both:
- The scheme, in full, and whether the seller is themselves in the chain.
- The Annex IX category, and evidence for it rather than an assertion.
- The GHG figure, because it is part of what the buyer books.
- The incoterm and load port, since the basis moves the number more than people expect.
- A recent certificate of analysis, so that you know the two parcels are the same material before you argue about the difference.
Why we do not quote a number here
We are asked for the current difference regularly and we do not publish one. Price levels are discussed with counterparties directly, against the actual feedstock, origin, volume and destination, because a figure quoted without those is not information, it is noise. Argus and the other assessment services exist for published levels, and buyers who need a reference use them.
What we will do, on a specific parcel, is tell you which of the two routes is realistic and what would have to change for the other one to open.
Frequently asked questions
What is the price difference between certified and non certified material?
There is no single figure, and we do not publish price assessments. The difference depends on the Annex IX category, the destination member state, the scheme, and whether the chain is complete end to end. On a specific parcel, with feedstock, origin and volume, we can tell you which route is realistic.
Is non certified material harder to sell?
Not harder, different. Oleochemical, technical and industrial buyers purchase on specification and do not need a sustainability chain. What does not work is offering uncertified material to a buyer whose reason for buying is a fuel obligation.
Will it be certified or non certified?
This is the first question to settle on any enquiry, and it is worth asking it before specification. The answer decides which buyers exist for the parcel, and everything downstream follows from it.
My producer is certified, so my cargo is certified. Is that right?
Only if every link between them and the buyer is in the chain of custody. A certified producer selling through an entity that is not certified delivers uncertified material. This is the most expensive misunderstanding in this trade.
Does certification improve the quality of the oil?
No. It documents origin and sustainability, not specification. A certified parcel can still fail on chlorine or free fatty acid, and an uncertified one can be clean. The certificate of analysis answers the quality question; the declaration answers a different one.
Is it worth getting certified for the volume I have?
That is an arithmetic question, not a principle: audit and scheme costs against the volume you can actually place, and whether the buyers you want require it at all. If you want to work through it we can tell you what the buyers in your market ask for, and introduce you to consultants and auditors if the answer is yes.
Market news
Recent headlines from across the feedstock and renewable fuel sector. Nothing specific to this market has come through the wires lately, so this is the wider view. The links go to the publisher; we do not host or edit their reporting, and a headline here is not our endorsement of it. Scroll for more.
- Call for papers on AI for circular economy: Intelligent algorithms for sustainable resource recovery
- NEDO, Kyoto University build world’s first hydrogen beamline at SPring-8-II
- Air Products and Nobian sign long-term agreement for RFNBO-compliant hydrogen
- Romania’s Senate approves green hydrogen law
- Namibia pioneers Africa’s first green hydrogen facility
- Hamburg starts building hydrogen connector for HH-WIN network
- Commercial use of green hydrogen gets under way in Czechia
- Kawasaki Heavy starts Kawasaki hydrogen plant with 18-ton daily capacity
- The Navy, Amyris, Emvolon, Haffner Energy and the Incredible Shrinking Refinery
- ICM supplying processing tech for Atvos’ Brazilian corn ethanol production plant
- Outage at South Africa’s Natref refinery
- Australian Government releases national maritime emissions reduction plan
- Circularity Communicated Conference 2026
- Circular fashion: Design, science and value in a sustainable clothing industry
- nova-Institute hosts the chemical industry defossilisation summit
- Quick Scan Circular Business Models
- Rubbermaid Brilliance line expands with Eastman’s Tritan Renew
- New ABC data reveals how America’s biogas is used today
18 headlines, updated automatically. Last refreshed .
Sources and further reading
Primary sources for the rules and figures on this page, so you can check them yourself. Legislation is amended: always read the consolidated text on the date that matters to you.
Who to ask about Certified and non certified
Just ask. Holding material without certification, or comparing two offers that are not quoted on the same basis? Tell us the feedstock, the origin and the volume and we will tell you which route is realistic. You get Bart van den Brug on the other end, same working day, in English or Dutch, and across the team also in French, Portuguese, Polish, Czech and Russian.
On how we work: on the feedstocks and fuels on this site we are a broker. We never take title, we do not trade our own book, and we are paid a commission on business that concludes. Additives are the one exception: those we also buy and sell for our own account, and we say in which capacity we are acting before you commit to anything. Either way you will hear it from us when the answer is no, or when your parcel is not ready for the conversation you want to have. A market read or a second opinion on a specification costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Happy to look at whatever you have, even if it is half an analysis and a question.
+31 6 115 83 448
bart@sustainablecommodities.eu
Sustainable Commodities 3 B.V., Lemmer, the Netherlands
Ask about Certified and non certified
A direct line to the desk. We answer the same working day in almost all cases, and we will tell you plainly when a cargo is not something we can place.
Prefer email? bart@sustainablecommodities.eu · +31 6 115 83 448
Last reviewed 02 September 2026. Regulatory references are given for orientation and are not legal advice: verify against the current Official Journal text before contracting.