EBA concerned with the ENVI Committee’s vote excluding biogases from the Net Zero Industry Act
Brussels, 20 September 2023 – On 20 September, the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment (ENVI) adopted its Opinion on the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), a milestone legislation to foster EU-based manufacturing of clean technologies tabled last March by the European Commission. The European Biogas Association is deeply concerned by the ENVI Committee’s decision to exclude “sustainable biogas and biomethane technologies” from the scope of the Act.
Such deletion is contrary to the strategic role of biogas and biomethane in a sustainable, secure and resilient energy mix for the coming years and decades, as recognised by the European Commission in the REPowerEU Plan. Biogas and biomethane technologies do meet the requirements for “strategic net-zero technologies” based on the Commission’s proposal:
1. Technological readiness: Biogases main production pathway (anaerobic digestion) is a mature technology (TRL 9). There are more than 18,000 biogas plants and 1,320 biomethane plants operating today. Combined production capacity exceeds 200 TWh, which is the equivalent of gas consumption of Belgium.
2. Contribution to decarbonisation and competitiveness: In 2020, combined biogas and biomethane production saved the equivalent to GHG emissions of Portugal (60 Mt CO2eq emissions). Biogases can replace up to 20% of natural gas imports by 2030. The European biogas industry is already a world leader and an exporter to other regions of the world.
3. Security of supply risks: The European biogas industry covers the supply chain of production technologies. The sector does not create new dependencies on third countries, rather it contributes to energy and technological security.
Sustainable biogas and biomethane are a local, made-in Europe and cost-competitive renewable alternative to oil and natural gas, representing a key solution in the low-carbon transition of EU industries.
The vote of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 25 October is an opportunity to recognise the strategic role of biogases in the NZIA.
