New Taskforce to Accelerate the Scale-Up of Biomethane in Germany

• Biomethane Taskforce established under the umbrella of Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft forms a new, strong voice for biomethane in Germany.
• The initiative brings together expertise from a broad alliance spanning production, trading, and supply.
• Kehler: “Germany is falling short of its potential: biomethane can cover significant parts of future gas demand and substantially reduce CO₂ emissions. We want to actively drive this development forward.”

With the new taskforce, Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft aims to strengthen biomethane production in Germany at a scale fit for the future. The Biomethane Taskforce pools expertise from across the gas sector and along the entire biomethane value chain in order to enhance the visibility and market development of this renewable energy carrier.

Biomethane will become an important building block for the climate-neutral operation of vehicles, industrial facilities, and heat generation systems. As a renewable, storable, and flexibly deployable molecule, it can decarbonize existing infrastructure while contributing to security of supply. To accelerate the development of this potential, Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft is now launching the Biomethane Taskforce. The new initiative combines the long-standing expertise of the gas industry with that of biomethane specialists.

The German government’s recently published key points for the planned Building Modernization Act highlight the political importance of climate-neutral fuels for the future heat supply. If CO₂-neutral gases are to play a greater role in the future, reliable framework conditions for their domestic production are needed now. The Biomethane Taskforce therefore also sees itself as an industrial policy initiative aimed at developing supply and demand in parallel.

The initiative aims to accelerate the large-scale ramp-up of biomethane and advocate for political framework conditions that restore planning certainty for investments in production, infrastructure, and applications. While the European Commission has set an ambitious target under REPowerEU of producing 35 billion cubic meters of biomethane by 2030, Germany risks falling behind in building the necessary capacities. Countries such as France and Italy have already established reliable investment conditions and are consistently expanding their production.

The current market environment is characterized by a tension between ambitious climate targets on the one hand and regulatory constraints on the other. Timm Kehler, CEO of Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft, explains: “Biomethane can become a central pillar of a climate-neutral gas supply. Yet the necessary policy guardrails are currently missing. With the expiration of the Gas Network Access Ordinance and EEG funding, as well as the unclear implementation of the EU gas market package, uncertainty is emerging for consumers and investments in new production capacity are slowing.”

In addition to stable framework conditions, the market needs instruments that stimulate demand. Among other measures, the taskforce advocates the implementation of a green gas quota, which enjoys broad public support, as shown by a recent survey conducted by the opinion research institute Civey. In the survey, 65.9 percent of the 2,500 homeowners questioned supported the injection of green gases for the climate-neutral operation of their heating systems. 18.9 percent opposed it, while 15.2 percent responded “don’t know.”

The taskforce is supported by existing members of the association and leading companies in the biomethane sector, including Biogeen, DAH Gruppe, Nawaro, Balance Erneuerbare Energien, SEFE, Uniper, Verbio, Trading Hub Europe, and anew climate. The initiative is also supported by the “Transformation Path for New Gases” project of the industry associations BDEW, DVGW, and Die Gas- und Wasserstoffwirtschaft.

Further information about the Biomethane Taskforce is available at:
www.biomethan-taskforce.de.