The Union Database (UDB) for liquid and gaseous renewable and recycled carbon fuels is a global traceability tool to trace consignments of renewable and recycled carbon fuels and the respective raw materials used for their production, from the point of origin of the raw materials, to the point where fuels are put on the EU market for final consumption.
The database was launched in November 2024 and covers both liquid and gaseous fuels. It is being used by an increasing number of operators, but is not yet open to the public. The Commission is discussing a timeline with EU countries for its full mandatory deployment and use.
Anchored in legislation
The database was foreseen under Article 31a of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU/2018/2001) to ensure market transparency and traceability in the supply chains for liquid and gaseous renewable and recycled carbon fuels, mitigating the risk of irregularities and fraud as well as avoiding double counting and thereby supporting efforts to meet the ambitious EU decarbonisation targets.
The Commission has also tabled a draft legal proposal for a Delegated Regulation on the Union Database that provides the legal basis for the extension of UDB traceability to cover raw materials upstream the supply chain. The draft text was subject to a call for feedback at the end of 2024 and in the first half of 2025 the Commission has had 2 rounds of discussions on the text with the expert group of EU countries. The final act is expected for adoption in 2025.
In parallel, the Commission is working on further elaborating and completing the overall rules on the Union Database, as part of the planned revision of the Implementing Regulation on sustainability certification, that is expected to be finalised by the end of 2026. This new set of rules will be complementary to the ones on tracing raw materials, and will cover the rest of supply chain traced by the UDB.
For more technical information, please visit the following pages:
Application overview and technical insights