More than €37 billion in public money available and €28 billion of private investments committed – with added risks to climate and health

A new report from the Methane Matters coalition – a consortium of civil society organisations – finds that The EU has handed the biogas industry billions of euros of public money to expand, without ensuring adequate environmental controls.

The consortium warns that without an environmental impact assessment, the EU’s unchecked rush to scale up biogas and biomethane production risks locking in pollution, fuelling industrial livestock farming, and undermining climate goals.

The findings come as ‘Biomethane Week’ (1) gets underway in Brussels and reveals a lack of oversight that opens the door wide to perverse incentives and harmful side effects, including methane leaks from biogas plants, increased air and water pollution, manure feedstocks increasing intensive animal rearing, and the possible lock-in of fossil fuel use.

The report recommends that EU policymakers ensure appropriate regulation of the biogas sector by undertaking an immediate environmental impact assessment of the RePowerEU target, and calls for the immediate cessation of any public funding until this has been completed.

Key findings

• Not a single EU policy analysed sufficiently mitigates the potential negative environmental and social impacts of biogas and biomethane production in the region.

• The Biomethane Industrial Partnership (BIP) has opened the door for industry to set policy on biogas and dictate what is considered sustainable.

• Industry interests are positioned to receive €37 billion of public funding for biogas projects, with no environmental impact assessment.

• The biogas rush has led to further €28 billion in private investments until 2030 risking being locked into unsustainable biogas production and creating long-term climate and financial risks. The three largest recipients of this investment are Spain, Denmark, and the UK. Spain and Denmark both have significant industrial animal agriculture operations wreaking havoc on local pollution and water quality, while the UK promotes the use of manure as a feedstock.
• The EU treats manure as a ‘zero emissions’ waste product, ignoring emissions from enteric fermentation and land-use change. Since 2019, the use of manure as a feedstock has increased. Subsidies could replicate US-style incentives that led to a 3.7% increase year-on-year in livestock herd sizes. Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK all actively incentivise manure as a feedstock.
• There is no EU-level regulation of methane leakage from biogas plants. Current estimates suggesting around 5% of methane in supply chains in the EU is lost to leakage. In Germany, for example roughly 300,000 tonnes of methane are estimated to be lost annually, equivalent to about 24 million tons of CO₂. While Denmark, Germany and the UK do have national regulation for leaks, these are inconsistently applied and recent investigations have shown leaks continue to occur. No plans could be found for Ireland, Poland or Romania.

• The biogas rush enables greenwashing, as fossil fuels are mixed with methane to make biogas for the grid, delaying the phase out of fossil fuels.

Caitlin Smith, Senior Campaigner, Changing Markets Foundation
“The EU has handed a blank cheque to the biogas industry, with no clear evidence that it will deliver real climate benefits. This is not a transition plan, but yet another subsidy for Big Meat and Dairy. Without a proper impact assessment, we risk locking Europe into another unsustainable energy rush. We urgently need a proper review of how much biogas can be produced sustainably. Until then, that cheque must be withdrawn before it’s cashed against our future.”

Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Executive Director, Deutsche Umwelthilfe
“What is happening in the biogas sector in the EU, and particularly in Germany, can only be described as a dangerous craze. We urge regulators at the national and at the EU level to reconsider the lofty expansion targets for biomethane that are in no way compatible with sustainable development of the sector. Regulatory guardrails need to be put up and enforcement of existing rules needs to be ensured. Otherwise, biogas won’t be part of the solution but become part of the problem: Without proper regulation and oversight, the biogas rush incentivizes harmful farming practices, drives up methane emissions, and risks locking in fossil-based infrastructure in sectors where better alternatives exist.”

Luc Powell, Senior Policy Officer for Air Quality and Agriculture, European Environmental Bureau
“Biogas is a fossil fuel Trojan horse, sold as a green solution but in reality, forcing the EU to remain dependent on gas and drive the industrialisation of animal farming. The €37 billion put towards biogas under RePowerEU would serve citizens far better if it supported a move beyond gas, not deeper into it.”

Janek Vähk, Zero Pollution Policy Manager, Zero Waste Europe
“Europe must put waste prevention first – it’s the smartest and greenest solution. As for biogas in the waste sector, its role is to deal with what we cannot prevent, not to justify continued waste generation.”

Jack Corscadden, Climate Campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency
“In the rush to phase out Russian fossil fuels, biogas has been promoted as a silver bullet solution, despite concerns about its overall sustainability. Methane leakages from the sector pose a serious threat to the environment. If biogas is to play a meaningful role in the EU’s future energy mix, it must be held to the same standards as other energy sources. The sector must be regulated, with requirements for the adoption of leak detection and repair programmes, supported by detailed monitoring and reporting of emissions from biogas facilities.”

Background

Methane is a super-pollutant, more than 80 times as powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Agriculture accounts for more than 57% of the EU’s methane emissions, the majority from enteric fermentation (cow-burps). Tackling methane is the best emergency brake we have to avoid climate tipping points.

Biogas and biomethane (2) are widely promoted as renewable energy sources, and a means with which the agricultural industry can reduce methane emissions. When implemented well biogas may have a role to play in achieving methane emissions reductions, however, without stringent environmental regulation, it perpetuates the problem.

The EU has pledged to increase biomethane production to 35 billion cubic metres annually by 2030, under the 2022 RePowerEU target, developed to secure energy security from Russia. A steering group, the Biomethane Industrial Partnership (BIP) comprising government and industry players, was set up to achieve the target.

As founders of the Global Methane Pledge (3), the EU and the UK are central to global leadership and action on methane emission reduction, and the report warns that without urgent action to address these oversights, their role risks being undermined. The report analyses EU-level policies relevant to biogas and national policies from Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania to reflect a balance of geographies, and biogas production capacities (4). In addition, a UK-focused case study is included.

Notes to editors

1. Biomethane week is an industry led event which is taking place for its third year in a row and is supported by the EU Commission. An opportunity to learn more about biogas opportunities and investments, network and collaborate with industry leaders, policy makers and civil society. However, wider civil society participation has been limited, in part due to the significant costs.
2. Biogas can be used directly for generating heat and power. But it can also be upgraded to biomethane. Similar to fossil gas, methane is the main component of biogas, usually accounting for around 60% of its volume. By upgrading biogas – removing CO2 and other gases – it is turned into biomethane with a methane content comparable to that of fossil gas (above 90%). Biomethane can be injected into existing fossil gas grids, for use in households and businesses, and used as transport fuel. The latter requires liquifying the biomethane at low temperatures, to turn it into bio liquid natural gas (BioLNG). Biogas has been used in domestic and agricultural applications for centuries, and has significantly increased in scale over the last 25 years. In the year 2000, global biogas output made up 7.5 billion m3, and by 2020, annual production had reached 38.1 billion m3. Europe has played a leading role in this, and the region accounts for more than half of all global production.
3. In 2021, the EU and the US launched the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) at COP26, now endorsed by 159 countries and the EU Commission. Through the pledge governments commit to a 30% reduction in global methane emissions by 2030 (compared to 2020 levels), and are encouraged to develop National Methane Action Plans to implement the commitment. At half way to the GMP deadline of 2030, emissions continue to rise and these plans remain elusive for many countries. Other policy areas continue to impact the likelihood of signatories reaching the pledge target, including commitments on biogas production.
4. Read the report, together with the larger policy and financial analysis conducted by Profundo.

For further information, please contact:

Samantha Ibbott
Senior Communications Officer for Agriculture and Food Systems
samantha.ibbott@eeb.org

Caitlin Smith
Campaign Manager, Changing Markets Foundation
caitlin.smith@changingmarkets.org | +44 7362589758

Sascha Müller-Kraener
Executive Director, Deutsche Umwelthilfe
mueller-kraenner@duh.de | +49 160 90354509

Janek Vahk
Zero Pollution Policy Manager, Zero Waste Europe
janek@zerowasteeurope.eu

Jack Corscadden
Climate Campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency
jackcorscadden@eia-international.org