Green hydrogen promises important developments in the near future, but the production of biogas and biomethane is the current element driving decarbonization and the transition towards "net zero": 2023 has marked the annual growth record in Europe and a further acceleration is expected for 2024-25.
These are data from the 2024 report by EBA, the European biogas association of which the Italian consortium CIB is a member: the analysis contains interesting numbers and is a confirmation for those, like Maganetti, investing in the use of bio-LNG as an alternative to fossil fuels.
According to the report data presented by EBA in recent weeks, the production of biogas and biomethane in Europe reached 22 billion cubic meters, equivalent to 7% of natural gas consumption in the European Union. As for biomethane specifically, the production reached 4.9 billion cubic meters in 2023; in the first quarter of 2024 the installed capacity reached 6.4 billion mc/year, with the largest annual increase recorded so far.
With the current levels of biogas production, according to EBA’s calculations, Europe can prevent the emission of 106 million tons of CO2 per year, supply energy to 19 million homes and feed 533.000 trucks with bio-LNG. All these figures are bound to increase, given that a further significant growth in production capacity is expected between now and 2030.
In the report EBA also points out that the use of biomethane is concentrated in sectors with high energy consumption, as a solution to decarbonize quickly: 23% of production was used for transport.
The annual report highlights another interesting aspect of biomethane production, something that has been directly experienced in recent years by Cooperativa Speranza, our partner in the bio-LNG project that we launched in 2019 with the support of CIB. The production of biomethane also provides a source of biogenic CO2, which is obtained as a co-product of renewable gas and can be used, for example, in the sustainable production of chemicals, but also in the food industry.
