Global biomethane production is set to reach 10 bcm this year, with growth primarily driven by the US, France and a bright outlook in Brazil and India.
Global biomethane production is expected to jump by over 15% in 2024 to around 10 bcm -a sevenfold increase compared to 2014. stronger policies, tighter emission standards and well-designed support mechanisms contributed to the biomethane boom: the pace of growth more than doubled in the last five years.
The United States became the world’s largest renewable natural gas producer in 2019, and has been rapidly increasing its biomethane market since then, primarily supported by the transport sector.
Preliminary data suggests, that in 9M 2024, US biomethane production grew by over 20% yoy.
Low carbon fuel standards and EPA’s renewable fuel standard program are the key driving forces behind this staggering growth.
In Europe, the biomethane landscape was for a long time dominated by Germany and Denmark. this has been changing in the last few years, with France increasing its biomethane output by near 70% since 2022.
France is now expected to become Europe’s largest biomethane producer in 2025, ahead of Germany and Denmark. Italy, the Netherlands and Czechia are also pushing on the biomethane button.
Besides Europe and the US, there is an immense growth potential in Brazil and India.
In Brazil, biomethane is expected to more than quadruple by 2027, making the country the world’s sixth largest biomethane producer.
In the case of India, the newly adopted blending obligations for compressed bio-gos are expected to boost CBG by more than tenfold over the medium-term.
What is your view? What is the outlook for biomethane? What is the right policy and regulatory framework to unleash the full potential of this green giant?
Source: Greg Molnar
