Feedback EU slams 35B bcm biomethane targets as unachievable

In the Netherlands, as EU Member States and Parliament continue negotiations on the EU Gas and hydrogen markets regulation, a report published by the campaigning group Feedback EU under the heading “Biomethane: setting a target that is fit for food and the climate” shows that the plan to ramp up biomethane production to 35 billion cubic meters (bcm) by 2030 from its current level of 3.5bcm is both unrealistic and unsustainable.

Feedback EU says its analysis shows that the use of most of these feedstocks at the volumes proposed comes with significant downsides and unintended consequences such as encouraging more livestock production and food-feed-fuel competition.

The 35bcm biomethane target was set by the European Commission in the face of enormous political pressure to in part wean the EU off Russian gas imports. No impact assessment was carried out on the target and the only detailed analysis of the feedstocks needed to produce 35bcm of biomethane was done by the gas industry.

Feedback says its independent and in-depth analysis of the feedstock assumptions underlying the 35bcm biomethane target shows that at best, it will simply be unachievable. At worst, it will lock in dangerously unsustainable agricultural, land use and energy practices and could be an environmental disaster in the making.