7-2025 Newsletter Task 37
Topics:
- IEA’s first Outlook for Biogases and Biomethane to 2050
- Task 37 Webinar Recap: Manure to Biogas
- The EBA released the 2nd Edition of “Decoding Biogases”
- Biogas Community Magazine: Focus on Asia
- Waste companies report RNG progress
- Biogas in France: Court of Auditors’ report
- Canada Energy Dashboard – 2025 Update
- Guidance on the application of the EU regulation on methane emissions reduction
- Overview of biomethane injection 2024 in France
- Considerations for siting efficient and effective Anaerobic Digestion systems
- Dunkelflaute (Dark doldrums) – not a problem for biogas
- How costs to connect biomethane to gas grids are paid for
- Global Biogas News Round-Up
- Preventing food waste in Europe
- New report from the Horizon Europe biomethane cluster
- Biomethane: the EU’s infrastructure needs
- Clustering of Biogas Plants
IEA’s first Outlook for Biogases and Biomethane to 2050
The Outlook for Biogases and Biomethane, finds that over 50 new policies have been introduced to support biogases since 2020 as countries increasingly recognize their benefits. The technologies and supply chains required to produce biogases are mature and well known, and they score highly on energy security metrics, the report finds. Around 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas equivalent (bcme) of biogas is produced each year, mostly in Europe, the United States and China. Most of this is utilized to generate local heat and electricity, and in some cases for clean cooking. Biomethane is growing rapidly, at around 20% per year, but only around 10 bcme is produced globally, equivalent to just 0.2% of natural gas demand. To understand the full potential for biogases globally, the IEA conducted a first-of-its-kind spatial analysis of over 5 million locations worldwide. It found that biogas production could reach the equivalent of nearly 1 trillion cubic meters (1 ExaWh). Detailed country- and location-specific supply cost curves for over 30 types of feedstocks were produced, considering proximity to infrastructure such as roads, electricity grids and gas pipelines. Only feedstocks that can be considered sustainable, i.e., wastes and residues were included that can be processed with existing technologies, which do not compete with food for agricultural land.
Task 37 Webinar Recap: Manure to Biogas
In May 2025, IEA Bioenergy Task 37 hosted a successful international webinar exploring the opportunities and challenges of converting manure into biogas. The event brought together leading experts and practitioners to share insights on technologies, policy frameworks, and farm-scale solutions from around the world. The program covered key global perspectives on the potential of manure for biogas production, focusing on policy, practice, innovation, and sustainability across various regions. The presentation slides and the recordings can now be downloaded.
The EBA released the 2nd Edition of “Decoding Biogases”
“Decoding Biogas” is a concise publication on biogas production, utilization, and the latest sector statistics. It provides an overview of how biogas is produced, its environmental and societal benefits, and its role in the future energy landscape. The impact of biogases goes far beyond energy production, as they provide solutions to significant societal challenges. They support grid stability, provide affordable and sustainable energy, and offer effective waste management solutions.
Biogas Community Magazine: Focus on Asia
Discover the latest news at “Biogas Community”—your go-to destination for cutting-edge market intelligence, the freshest news, and beyond. The free February Magazine Edition focuses on Asia with contributions from Malysia and India among others.
Waste companies report RNG progress
Despite a shifting landscape for renewables, major waste companies continue to advance renewable natural gas projects at their landfills. RNG companies also reported strong results to end the year. Major waste companies are reporting continued progress on their RNG projects while energy companies like BP have announced they’re pulling back on renewable investment. WM reported having 16 third-party RNG facilities, completing five new facilities in 2024 compared to one in 2023. Republic Services reported having a pipeline of 45 landfill-gas-to-RNG projects, most of which are developed through its joint venture with Archaea Energy, a BP subsidiary. Republic also disclosed a $35 million equity investment in a joint venture to build RNG projects at the company’s Illinois landfills.
Biogas in France: Court of Auditors’ report
The report “Le soutien à filière biogaz” (“Support for the biogas sector”), just published by the French Court of Auditors, highlights the fragility of the ecosystem. Concerns about the biomass actually available, the sharing of added value with the agricultural sector, and the volatility of final prices inevitably impacted by the necessary reduction in public spending. At a time when France has set itself the goal of becoming fossil-gas-free by 2050, biogas represents a major lever for this transition. The public policies pursued to date have enabled the development of this renewable energy through substantial public funding. At the end of 2023, there were 1,911 biogas plants in France, mainly agricultural and small to medium-sized, delivering a total energy output of almost 12 TWh. Although the production of injected biomethane amounted to 9.1 TWh (+25% on 2022), it represents only 2.5% of the gas consumed in France. That’s not much, considering the €2.6 billion in support for the sector between 2011 and 2022. There are also major concerns about the actual availability of biomass (organic matter and waste), given the thousands of digesters to be “fed” over the coming years. According to the Cour des Comptes, supply tensions could appear as early as 2030.
Canada Energy Dashboard – 2025 Update
Navius Research released the 2025 update of the Canada Energy Dashboard, offering North America’s most comprehensive collection of energy data and scenario analysis. This dashboard presents results from 650 scenarios of possible futures for Canada’s energy system. It enables users to explore where Canada’s energy system and economy are headed by varying the policy implemented and how the cost and availability of specific technologies may evolve between now and 2050. The update brings detailed regional analysis with disaggregation across all 10 provinces, including Atlantic Canada and gives new insights into announced but not yet legislated policies.
Guidance on the application of the EU regulation on methane emissions reduction
The Marcogaz document provides guidance on implementing the EU regulation to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector. The regulation mandates strict monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), requiring operators to quantify and report emissions accurately. By enforcing strict monitoring and mitigation, the regulation aims to significantly reduce methane emissions while maintaining a balance between effectiveness and practicality. Compliance will require collaboration between industry, regulators, and research institutions to drive continuous improvement.
Overview of biomethane injection 2024 in France
As it does every year, the “Panorama des gaz renouvelables” takes stock of the past year and looks ahead to the years to come. Despite a significant increase in the production of injected biomethane in 2024, the renewable gas sector is showing signs of running out of steam, and calls on the government to guarantee a stable, structuring horizon. The biomethane sector recorded record production of 11.6 TWh injected into French gas networks in 2024. This represents a 27% increase on the previous year’s figure of 9.1 TWh. This renewable energy now covers 3.2% of national natural gas consumption, compared with 2.4% in 2023.
Of the 2021 facilities producing and valorizing renewable gases, 731 were focused on injection at December 31, 2024. This figure marks a 12% increase on the previous year, but also reflects a slowdown in the pace of growth. the vast majority of injection units are of the agricultural type. In 2024, stand-alone agricultural installations will account for 65% of the total, with annual production of 7,636 GWh, or 55% of the total. Territorial agricultural projects account for 20% of sites, generating 3,500 GWh per year, or 25% of production.
Considerations for siting efficient and effective Anaerobic Digestion systems
In the USA there has been a marked uptick in interest in establishing anaerobic digesters at sites with a steady supply of organic materials, including farms with abundant animal manure and crop residues, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and food production facilities. The present publication gives an easy to read, excellent overview of key site considerations for siting anaerobic digestion facilities, from federal guidelines, state regulations, and permitting, to feedstock analysis, site design and layout, costs and revenue, water requirements, and digestate disposal.
Dunkelflaute (Dark doldrums) – not a problem for biogas
The energy turnaround (electricity) is mostly about sun and wind – biogas plants are only marginally noticed here. Yet they produce electricity and heat flexibly and independently of the weather. In order to balance out the fluctuating power generation from wind and sun, politicians have long relied primarily on new fossil gas-fired power plants and, in the long term, on green hydrogen. Biogas was hardly mentioned as a solution to the so-called dark doldrums. However, according to a study published in 2024 by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, biogas could provide around half of the missing electricity capacity by 2040 for the times when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. And it will be much cheaper and more climate-friendly than reserve power plants that burn fossil gas until hydrogen is ready for practical use. The “Visuflex” project (visuflex.fnr.de), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, shows how reliably technically upgraded biogas plants are already stepping in to fill the electricity gap. It is also estimated that around 2 million households in Germany could be supplied with heat from biogas plants.
How costs to connect biomethane to gas grids are paid for
Common Futures conducted the present study for the European Biogas Association. Across the EU, different practices exist on how costs of connecting biomethane production installations to gas networks are paid for: by the producer, by network companies and ultimately their users through tariffs or a combination of both. So far, no comprehensive overview exists of how this cost allocation is organized in EU Member States. The aim of this study is to analyse how the cost of integrating biomethane into the gas grid is currently split between producers and infrastructure companies. Next to the main study aim, there are two secondary goals: 1. Highlight differences in injection fees and injection unit costs in the EU 2. Create an inventory of which party is operationally responsible for specific grid-connection equipment or grid asset types in each EU MS.
Global Biogas News Round-Up
Curated by the World Biogas Association, the Global Biogas News Round-Up brings you the latest and most important stories from the world of biogas.
Preventing food waste in Europe
While prevention measures are gaining momentum, more effective efforts at national level are needed to tackle the huge problem of food waste according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report released recently.
The assessment gives an update on waste prevention measures across the EU. Preventing food waste is both urgent and necessary, given the high impacts of food waste on climate change, but also to protect biodiversity, reduce pollution and enhance food security. Approx. 132kg of food waste per person was generated across the European Union in 2022 amounting to just over 59 million tons of food waste and the environmental and economic impacts are high, according to the EEA report ‘Preventing waste in Europe — Progress and challenges, with a focus on food waste’. The assessment gives the latest bi-annual check-up on waste prevention actions via data and trends the EEA does in support of EU’s Waste Framework Directive. To accelerate progress, the EU is close to adopting two binding food waste reduction targets to be achieved by EU Member States in 2030. These include a 10% food waste reduction in processing and manufacturing and a 30% per capita reduction at retail and consumer levels.
New report from the Horizon Europe biomethane cluster
The biomethane cluster formed by the four Horizon Europe projects BIOMETHAVERSE,
HyFuelUp, METHAREN and SEMPRE-BIO presented their second joint report on policy and market recommendations to deploy biomethane production in the European Union.
The report was jointly drafted in October 2024. It provides a current overview of the European renewable gas sector, analyzing the gap between the targets that each country has set in their respective NECPs and their actual production potential; the main challenges faced by the different countries to meet the REPowerEU target of producing 35 bcm of biogas and/or biomethane by 2030, the situation of certificates of origin and cross-border trade, as well as a compilation of policy and market recommendations to make biomethane production take off in the European Union.
Biomethane: the EU’s infrastructure needs
A new study by GIE (Gas Infrastructure Europe) highlights the significant infrastructure needs required to support the large-scale integration of biomethane into the European gas network by 2040. According to this analysis, based on projections by the European Biogas Association (EBA), Europe could produce up to 111 billion cubic meters of biomethane per year by 2040, of which 98 billion would be injected directly into existing gas networks. Up to 41% of the gas consumed could be biomethane.
Clustering of Biogas Plants
In the joint project “Development of Innovative Concepts for the Clustering of Existing Biogas Plants for the Provision of Biomethane,” abbreviated as BGA Cluster, researchers have identified necessary measures for the merging of existing biogas plants and the joint operation of a central biogas processing and feeding system. They have developed executable proposals for practical implementation. The results have been summarized in a guideline which has now been published by the Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (FNR). The guideline describes technical and organizational requirements for biogas plant clusters and provides initial economic assessments. It serves as a decision-making aid and offers recommendations for action for policymakers, companies, and biogas plant operators.