NWE ethanol sustainability criteria enhancement

Platts has reviewed requests from participants in the European ethanol market to allow counterparties the "right to audit" for the purpose of determining the validity and veracity of sustainability documentation.

Platts proposes to incorporate this "right to audit" clause into the Sustainability Criteria as published in its European methodology and specifications guide for fuel grade ethanol effective January 2011. The proposed addition shall be incorporated as follows: Platts will only consider bids, offers and transactions where, upon buyer's request, the seller shall exercise reasonable efforts to provide documentation describing:

1) the ethanol feedstock type;

2) the country of origin of the feedstock;

3) a declaration of land use on which feedstock was grown on or after January 1, 2008.

Upon buyer's request, the seller should allow the buyer the right to audit the sustainability documentation for the sole purpose of determining the validity and veracity of these documents.

Platts will not consider ethanol in its assessment process that is in violation of the ILO's Minimum Age Convention 1973, and the ILO's Abolition of Forced Labor Convention 1957. Please direct any queries to petchems@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.