By 2050, 30-40% of Europe’s total gas consumption could be made up of sustainable biomethane, according to the eleventh edition of the Statistical Report presented by the European Biogas Association.
The EBA Statistical Report analyzes the current availability of renewable gases in Europe, in particular biogas and biomethane.
The combined production of biogas and biomethane in 2020 amounted to 191 TWh or 18.0 bcm of energy. This figure is therefore expected to double in the next 9 years. In the future, 2050, the production may be at least five times higher and reach more than 1,000 TWh.
Agriculture-based biogas and biomethane plants account for the largest share of total production. To be exact, it is now already more than Belgium’s total natural gas consumption and represents 4.6% of the European Union’s gas consumption.
Job creation
In terms of job creation, the report shows that the biogas and biomethane industries are already responsible for more than 210,000 green jobs today. Furthermore, both sectors combined can be expected to create a total of approximately 420,000 jobs by 2030 and more than one million jobs by 2050.
Over the last decade, the delivery of dispatchable power and heat from biogas has been very important and its role will continue to some extent. However, the current trend puts the emphasis squarely on sustainable biomethane production.
Biomethane production trend
2020 saw the largest year-on-year increase in biomethane production so far despite the pandemic, with an additional 6.4 TWh or 0.6 bcm of biomethane produced in Europe. For the time being, an even larger increase is expected in 2021, as a record number of new biomethane plants started production in 2020 and should be fully operational in 2021.
The report also points to a clear trend towards the increasing use of sustainable feedstocks for biogas and biomethane production. These mainly include industrial waste, municipal waste or agricultural waste.
Likewise, the remaining energy crops for biogas production are expected to be replaced by sustainable crops. For example, with the introduction of sequential cropping systems that at the same time enable carbon cultivation and soil revitalization.
“Today, the EU is 90% dependent on imported fossil gas. The EBA Statistical Report 2021 highlights the best possible ways to accelerate the deployment of sustainable renewable gas and ensure that we are on track to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, making use of all possible solutions at our disposal,” says Harmen Dekker, Director of the EBA.
Source: RETEMA (2022)