Thursday, 03 June 2021
Today (3 Jun 2021), the European Biogas Association (EBA) hosted the webinar 'Below zero emissions pathway for clean mobility'. The webinar was a partner event to EU Green Week 2021.
The webinar focussed upon the potential of biomethane to enable the EU to reach a reduction in emissions of 90% compared to 1990, particularly when considering the transport/mobility sector.
The production and utilisation of biomethane has many advantages over traditional fossil energy usage beyond simple carbon emissions reductions, including waste treatment, and opportunities for rural regions.
However, biomethane is often slighted by green legislation in comparison to other renewable technologies, moreso in transport sector where tank-to-wheel (TtW) carbon accounting disadvantages biomethane-driven vehicles relative to electric vehicles. This was considered potentially disastrous, given the context of the EU struggling to reduce emissions from this sector in recent times where emissions actually increased from 2018 to 2019; unlocking all renewable technologies including biomethane will be key to reversing this trend in the long term.
The key note speech was delivered by Member of European Parliament (MEP) Anne Sander. While acknowledging the need for a diversity of renewable technologies, she noted the importance of biomethane in the agrifood sector and in green mobility (where Anne has cosigned the petition for the removal of deployment barriers for sustainable fuels, which would involve amendments to emissions standards and the Taxonomy among other things).
Following the keynote was Maria Malmkvist of the Swedish Gas Association, who presented some of the details behind the barriers to biomethane deployment. Some wins were also noted; the recognition of biomethane as a zero energy solution in Spain and Norway highlighted, where changes in legislation have been proposed.
Maria's talk was followed up by representatives in the truck manufacturing (Giandomenico Fioretto, IVECO), market retail (Thomas Mathieu, Carrefour) and marine manufacturing (Reetta Kaila, Wärtsilä Biogas) industries. All talked about the need for implementing biomethane solutions in their company's strategies, some of the challenges they have faced in doing so and the path forward for their organisations and biomethane in general.
The final presentation was given by Milenko Matosic, who was speaking on behalf of dena and their role in the REGATRACE (Renewable Gas Trade Centre in Europe) project.
The final session of the webinar was a panel discussion which further expanded upon the deployment of biomethane in transport, including how lobbying efforts should be directed towards the European Commission.
While the webinar is over, it should still be possible to register and obtain the recording of the event here.
Source