Biomethane production is experiencing significant growth, although further measures will be needed to fully unlock its potential across Italy. This is the conclusion of the Biomethane & Biofuels Report 2026, recently published by researchers at the Politecnico di Milano, specifically the Energy & Strategy Institute of the PoliMi School of Management.
BioLNG continues to prove a key element of the energy transition, although the report highlights several essential steps to accelerate production towards the 2030 targets set out in Italy’s National integrated Energy and climate plan. According to the Institute’s researchers, measures based on a “strategic vision” will be required to reduce uncertainty and enable the market to develop appropriately, following the significant investment boost driven by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
The analysis starts from an estimated biomethane production of 0.9 billion cubic metres in 2025. Under an accelerated development scenario, annual production could reach 3.8 billion cubic metres by 2030, whereas if current trends continue unchanged, domestic production would rise to 2.9 billion cubic metres per year.
In both scenarios, the report points out, the targets established by the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan would not be achieved. For this reason, the study highlights the need for further legislative action to extend the support provided to the sector through PNRR funding and the bureaucratic simplifications introduced in recent years.
Meanwhile, biomethane production practices are gradually evolving on the ground, as Michael Niederbacher, Vice-President of the European Biogas Association (EBA), recently explained in an interview with Renewable Matter magazine. One of the main points of debate has always been the potential competition between agricultural production for food, animal feed and biomethane. In recent years, however, more stringent sustainability criteria have been introduced, the EBA Vice-President noted, while the use of agricultural by-products and livestock manure has increased as part of a circular economy approach. In practice, this is precisely the model behind Maganetti’s project with Cooperativa Speranza, which produces the bioLNG powering our fleet.
