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European Commission responds to WBA letter

As we wrote here, WBA has been busy writing to Environment Ministers of top emitters and countries with the greatest biogas’ potential to ensure they include biogas in their climate plans. At least six months before the UN Climate Summit, COP26, in November, participating countries will have to submit their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These are binding climate targets and will have to be accompanied by the countries’ plans to meet them.

WBA has also collaborated with the European Biogas Association (EBA) to write to Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, to persuade him of the need to scale up biogas production across Europe to mitigate climate change. Europe remains the heart of the global biogas industry and the EU has been vocal on the benefits of biogas as a climate solution. Most recently, they published the EU Methane Strategy that identifies anaerobic digestion as a key technology for tackling the rampant methane issue and for the decarbonisation of agriculture.

With our letter, we wanted to ensure that this support was reflected in binding targets for biogas production in the EU’s NDC. On 28th January 2021, the Director for Green Transition and Energy System Integration at the European Commission, Catharina Sikow-Magny, has responded with a letter. You can read this in full here.

Catharina has reiterated the EU’s support for biogas and reassured us of the EU’s “commitment […] to further encourage Member States to deploy sustainable mitigation solutions in their national energy mix, where sustainable biogas production has its role to play”.

On 23rd February, we received a second response letter. In this letter, Mauro Petriccione, Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Climate Action, highlighted the EU’s support for the use of biomethane in transport as a key solution for the hardest to decarbonise modes of transport.

With the EU recognising biogas’ contribution in mitigating climate change, we remain optimistic that many other countries will follow suit and heavily invest in this climate solution. WBA continues to engage with national governments and key international organisations around the world to this end. The UN Climate Summit will be critical to raise the biogas’ global profile and we are working with our partners to see the recycling of organic wastes being high up in the COP26 agenda.

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