Scaling up the development of biogas in India

This year, the Congress will focus on detailing a framework to allow for rapid scaling of the biogas industry. The WBA will develop this framework in collaboration with national biogas stakeholders at Federal, State and municipal level, and across the industrial waste sectors – from food and beverage manufacture, agriculture and urban waste management.

As with our membership of the Global Biofuels Alliance, the WBA is proud to support India, a bellwether nation for all emerging economies, in its pursuit to be a leader in biogas and biofuels production and use. And we applaud PM Modi’s dedication to achieve this within a climate-sensitive timeframe – by 2030. We have less than six years to deliver the Global Methane Pledge and other critical 2030 Climate targets, to keep 1.5C alive. So, it is vital that countries come together, and work together, to deliver an unprecedently rapid and sustainable scale up of bioenergy and biofuels. Recognising them as near zero emission fuel sources, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says bioenergy and biofuels have a critical role to play in displacing fossil fuel use and securing net zero emissions.

Biogas: the gateway to achieving climate targets

Biogas production is the gateway to achieving this. As a flexible power source, it can be combusted for power and heat in homes and industrial plants or transformed into liquid biofuels used in cars, ships and planes. It can also open the door to organic farming and carbon capture for use and storage and supports the development of other novel bioresources. Under its Net Zero Emissions scenario, the IEA says “in 2030, 60% of bioenergy supply will come from waste and residues that do not require dedicated land use, compared to less than 50% today. Innovation and deployment in biofuel conversion technologies will be required to fully unlock the potential of wastes and residues.”

Humans directly or indirectly generate over 105 billion tonnes of organic wastes globally each year – human sewage, animal manures and slurries, food wastes and more. Left to decompose, all of these wastes release methane and other harmful greenhouse gases directly into the atmosphere. These wastes also release streams of nutrients, that if captured could be super foods for plants, but when allowed to run off into water courses suffocate our rivers and are causing alarming dead zones in our oceans – the world’s great climate regulator and food source for billions.

If, instead, we collect these wastes, and recycle them into biogas, biofertilisers and biofuels, this alone would reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 11% and deliver about half of the Global Methane Pledge - while generating the equivalent of one third of today’s global gas consumption. This isn’t just good for our environment, our energy and food security and our health – it is also a huge economic opportunity which would create 10-15 million skilled green jobs globally, build local supply chains and directly support farmers. Yet today just 2% of these organic wastes are treated and recycled.

The World Biogas Association (WBA) exists to accelerate the scale-up of bioenergy and biofuel development, drawing on our unique global networks of companies, institutions and national associations.

Working together, we are developing pathways to remove barriers, innovate and standardise wherever possible, to enable countries to develop high-performing bioenergy sectors, building on the experience of established markets.

#MakingBiogasHappen