Programme

Watch speeches by senior international, national, sub-national and regional government ministers and officials. 

The International Energy Agency has forecast bioenergy (including biogas) to be second only to solar as the fastest-growing renewable source of energy between now and 2050 – displacing hydrogen.

In the last 10 years, in both developed and developing countries, biogas has grown exponentially. And with big investments from Goldman Sachs, TotalEnergies and Shell amongst others over the last few years, the landscape has changed significantly. We are now at inflection point in the growth of the biogas sector.

In this session, we will provide a global policy and market overview for biogas, an aggregate outlook as to its continued growth based on the work of many reputable forecasters and outline the social, economic and environmental co-benefits of supporting the increased development of biogas and how it can help to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, interim net zero targets, and the Global Methane Pledge by 2030 on an international level.

WBA’s driving mission is to develop the circular economy of organic wastes, a system where materials never become waste, pollution is prevented, nature is regenerated and carbon footprints are reduced. We will do this by taking a strategic approach to the promotion, and ultimately the growth, of biogas as a renewable alternative to fossil fuels as well as a decarbonisation solution for transport, industry and agriculture, some of the hardest-to-decarbonise sectors – in other words, we are focused on “Making Biogas Happen”.

We have less than six years until 2030 by which point the world must have delivered half of the Global Methane Pledge to have any chance of being net zero by 2050.

For the biogas sector to fulfil its full contribution to this effort, that means we have just six years to build hundreds of thousands of biogas plants all over the world. Yet in some parts of the world, it can take even longer than that just to secure a permit.

WBA’s Making Biogas Happen Programme is unprecedented in terms of its scale and ambition. To assist governments and regulators in every country across the world, we are compiling a comprehensive and ready-to-implement programme which can be delivered in any jurisdiction with minimal delay to enable the industry to grow and scale-up at the pace it needs to across the world.

In this session, we will provide an overview of the programme and provide a rationale for how we propose to contribute to support and actualise the ambition and growth of the industry by 2030 that we heard about in the previous session.

Come to this session to learn about the commercial opportunities of biogas.

The viability and the growth of the biogas industry is fundamentally determined by three things – it’s ability and capacity to innovate and scale up new technology to harness, optimise and streamline plant processes while improving the health and safety and sustainability of our sites, the industry’s ability to source multiple and reliable feedstocks and how we leverage credit for the co-benefits that AD offers, including the production of digestate.

With the growth of the industry as our macro-objective, in this session, we will focus on technology benchmarking and the challenges of scaling-up and rolling out; best practice in securing multiple sources of feedstock and enhancing the resilience and reliability of supply chains and the crucial role digestate plays as both a source of income to rural economies but also to our food security.

Biogas markets are most developed and most mature in Europe and North America, particularly the US having experienced exponential growth in recent years.

With the industry now being supported and underpinned by the EU Green Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act, respectively, in this session we will hear about the latest industry trends and developments, challenges and opportunities that the industry are currently faced with and the lessons that can be imparted to emerging markets for biogas and other renewable sources of energy based on our sector’s experience.

Watch speeches by senior government ministers and officials and academics.

While many economies around the world stagnate and deflate, the green economy is growing. In fact, net zero represents the greatest commercial opportunity of the 21^st century. Many of the world’s largest companies are investing in green gas either in becoming producers themselves or as off-takers to as integral part of their sustainability plans and clean energy transition.

In this session, we will hear from leaders from some of the world’s foremost companies to tell us where biogas sits in their business and sustainability plans between now and 2050.

As with the energy sector more widely, women in the biogas industry are under-represented. A WBA survey conducted in 2022 revealed that women make up less than 30% of the workforce in half of the companies that responded, 55% of companies have less than a quarter in senior leadership roles and 21% had no women at all in senior positions.

According to IRENA, 60% of men that responded to a survey conducted in 2019 do not perceive the existence of gender-related barriers to entry and advancement in the industry. But the data does not bear this out. Whilst there have been improvements in the energy sector more broadly, the biogas industry remains male-dominated, particularly in leadership roles, with a lack of role models for women and a correlated lack of conscious effort to hire and support women to enter and advance within the industry.

This is not just of importance from a diversity and inclusion perspective. Increasing the number of women able to access the biogas sector is of crucial to the future success of the industry. Companies with higher gender diversity are 39% more likely to financially-outperform ones with less diversity globally, as data shows diversity manifests innovation.

In this session, the WBA’s Women in Biogas Working Group will launch its report as well as its corresponding Mentorship Programme, which aims to uplift women into leadership roles, promote biogas as a career path globally, and tackle gender-specific challenges. We will spotlight some inspirational women within our industry to outline the positive difference that women can and do make to the industry. Finally, we will host the official signing of our Women in Biogas Charter – all of which we intend to enhance the diversity, resilience and profitability of the industry in #MakingBiogasHappen.

As the sector transitions from government-subsidy support to more market-based support, how the industry operates and the value of what it produces is driven by and determined by the market.

In this session, we will assess what and where the demands for biogas and biomethane are, what the most viable uses for it are and how to access it for any of these purposes when you are looking to secure an off-take agreement.

Carbon markets offer a promising avenue for accelerating investments in biogas projects, fostering environmental sustainability and financial viability. Leveraging carbon markets provides a strategic pathway to scale up investments in the biogas industry. By tapping into additional revenue streams, mitigating financial risks, and ensuring regulatory compliance, carbon markets can be pivotal in driving the transition towards a more sustainable and resilient energy future powered by the biogas industry.

In this session, we will illuminate some of the global opportunities for biogas sector to be found in carbon markets, but also how to efficiently navigate some of the challenges entailed in adhering to the pertinent regulations and standards.

Sustainable cities are vital for ensuring high quality of life for urban residents. Central to the concept of sustainable cities is effective waste management. Incorporating biogas production through anaerobic digestion into waste management systems is crucial to building sustainable cities.

By harnessing the potential of organic waste as a resource, cities can simultaneously address environmental challenges, enhance energy security, and promote economic prosperity.

Adopting holistic approaches to waste management that prioritize resource recovery and renewable energy (biogas) generation is essential for creating resilient and livable urban environments for future generations.

In this session, we will showcase the potential circular cities – incorporating biogas – can offer their residents.

Unlike any other source of renewable energy, biogas is able to deliver home grown, distributed, baseload, storable and dispatchable green energy. A biogas plant can be as small and micro as a homemade one to power one home to an enormous site which has the capacity to generate heat, power, fuel or energy to benefit millions of people. It is also relatively fast to build a biogas plant compared to other sources of renewable energy, which must be a large consideration for both governments and the private sector in the drive towards net zero.

It is little wonder that all reputable forecasters predict colossal and transformative growth in the sector between now and 2050, with most of that growth coming from emerging markets – all of whom also have increasing populations, with increasing propensity for economic growth and energy demands.

In this session, we will hear from some of the markets where there is the greatest potential for the growth of the industry worldwide and illuminate some of the challenges and opportunities they have and discuss how these can be negotiated and maximised respectively.

Hear a communiqué and get a glimpse of the World Biogas Summit’s ‘Outcome Document.’