Let’s have a closer look at the biomethane rush

This week marks the European Biomethane Week, a moment when producers, users, investors, and legislators come together to further boost the ongoing upscaling of biomethane. And, of course, it’s also the moment for Foodrise to be a critical voice in the room. 

Since we started working on this topic in 2020, we have seen it all: the potential, the room for improvement, but above all the concerning pathway that currently planned biomethane upscaling could lead us down, one where we risk locking ourselves into a dependency on large-scale animal production for both our food and our energy. This, at a time when, both from a climate and dietary perspective, we should actually be moving towards more plant-based food production. 

But there is more. Together with the StopTheBiomethaneRush Coalition, we have highlighted multiple downsides of the biomethane rush: impacts on local communities, methane leaks, dependency on food waste instead of preventing it, and many others. 

In other words, we simply can’t sit still during this week, and we won’t.  

Today, the Methane Matters Coalition – consisting of Changing Markets, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, EEB, Zero Waste Europe and the Environmental Investigation Agency – has launched its new comprehensive report, undertaken by Profundo: “Biogas in the EU: A policy and financial analysis”, for which we have been happy to provide input on this journey as part of the study’s steering committee; and also be part of a panel at its launch event.  

The goal of the research has been to provide a concrete analysis of the policy and financial environment for biogas, the potential risks associated with this, and any recommendations for how policies and financial flows can be changed to build a more sustainable and just energy transition in Europe. For this, the report also includes case studies from seven European countries – six EU member states, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania, chosen to reflect a balance of geographies within the EU, and the UK. 

Some key insights from the report: 

• Currently, no EU policy sufficiently mitigates the environmental and social impacts of biogas and biomethane production. 

• No specific policy exists relevant for community engagement in biogas production. While some aspects of community impacts have been addressed through the EU Nitrates Directive via restrictions on nitrogen levels from fertiliser application, which could mitigate negative impacts on waterways, nature and health, this has even been weakened recently under pressure from highly intensive livestock producing countries such as the Netherlands. 

• Throughout Europe, manure is increasingly used as a feedstock in biomethane production, despite its significant life cycle emissions and wider environmental pollution. 

• As also voiced by the StopTheBiomethaneRush Coalitionthe report calls on EU policymakers to conduct a full environmental impact assessment of the RePowerEU target of 35 billion cubic metres biogas by 2030 and reconsider the target if needed to avoid locking us into unsustainable production practices and land-use impacts. 

Since our organisation is based in the Netherlands, we were particularly interested in taking a closer look at the current state of biomethane here. The report provides excellent insights with a dedicated Dutch case study:   

• The ongoing manure surplus and nitrogen crisis have created conditions under which biogas – particularly anaerobic digestion of manure – is increasingly framed as a practical waste management tool. But this causes significant controversy regarding environmental trade-offs, efficiency and impacts on local communities. 

• Cargill, one of the largest agricultural polluters in the world, with a long history of derailing and delaying climate regulation, is investing heavily in biogas in the Netherlands. This has led to concerns on the potential to ‘lock-in’ to unsustainable extraction and manure production. The Netherlands already has three times higher nitrogen pollution than other European countries, mostly coming from intensive industrial animal production. 

• Environmental Impact Assessments in the Netherlands are meant to also assess the impact of new biogas installation on local communities. But now, these are envisioned to be reduced in certain so-called “acceleration areas” as part of the Dutch transposition of RED III into national law. 

• The total subsidy amount for biogas (through the most prominent schemes SDE+ and SDE++) in the period 2016-2023 has amounted to EUR 6.1 billion. 

As highlighted in the report, the biomethane industry in the Netherlands is still in its early stages, now spurred by the country’s new target of 2 billion cubic metres by 2030. This makes it especially important to avoid the pitfalls experienced in other EU countries and to ensure that biomethane develops within a sustainable niche. 

The report therefore includes the following recommendations to Dutch policymakers: 

Introduce a moratorium on biomethane from manure sourced from industrial animal farming  

While the expansion of biomethane production in the Netherlands is still in its early stages, the government’s intention to significantly increase production by using large quantities of animal manure contrasts sharply with the country’s dramatic nitrogen crisis and the need to significantly and rapidly reduce livestock numbers. Dutch policy-makers must review biomethane policies and subsidies as laid out in this research, stop any incentives that could lock in industrial animal farming, and ensure that biomethane policies are co-designed and coherent with efforts to reduce the number of animals. 

Maintain stringent MER-requirements for biogas production facilities and distribution channels in allocating so-called ‘’acceleration areas” under RED III 

The Netherlands should maintain a so-called Project-MER (i.e. a project-based environmental impact assessment) requirement for biogas production facilities and distribution channels. While the Dutch government is in the process of identifying so-called ‘’acceleration areas’’ for the Dutch energy transition as part of its transposition of RED III into national law, regulators must ensure that environmental safeguards for biogas production facilities and distribution channels are maintained. 

Respect the EU-wide nitrogen application levels for animal manure and oppose the RENURE changes to the Nitrates Directive 

Contrary to recent actions, the Dutch government should oppose changes in the EU Council to increase the maximum nitrogen application level and to stop applying for any future derogations under the existing limits. The Netherlands is one of three European countries that have a derogation under the EU Nitrates Directive, allowing some farmers to apply more nitrogen from animal manure per hectare. In 2024, the EU Commission opened a public consultation on revising Annex III of the Nitrates Directive, aiming to increase the maximum nitrogen application level from 170 kg to 270 kg per hectare, provided that this nitrogen originates from ‘recovered nitrogen from manure (RENURE)’ fertilisers. 

More information can be found on the Methane Matters Coalition page: https://methanematters.eu/