Biomethane in Support of the EU Energy Policy Goals

The European Union’s (EU) energy policy has been giving increasing priority to biogas and biomethane, and this has accelerated significantly with the RePowerEU Communication, where the Commission proposes increasing the ‘Fit-for-55‘ ambition of producing 17 bcm of biomethane by 2030 to 35 bcm, with already the production of 3.5 bcm by 2022.

Biomethane will need to be an important part of the EU’s net-zero strategy. As evidenced in the Sustainable Carbon Cycles Communication, when its use is combined with CCS, it can lead to negative emissions. It will be an integral part of developing a sustainable farming sector, and financing can come partly from energy and partly from agricultural revenues.

The industry is however in its infancy compared to other energy sources in Europe and will need huge scaling up and cost-efficiencies to contribute at the scale and speed envisaged by the Commission.

This debate looks to unpick these challenges, asking what are the bottlenecks that need to be overcome, what needs to be done in regulatory terms to realise the RePowerEU target in practice, and what should be the longer-term EU biomethane strategy.

Introduction 

Galin Gentchev | The European Commission

Daan Peters | Common Futures (Keynote)

Panel

Ilaria Conti | Florence School of Regulation (FSR)

Cyril Harry |  Engie

Marilda Dhaskali | Birdlife Europe

Conclusions

Christopher Jones | FSR

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