The UK Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association is calling on the UK Government to put words into action and support the deployment of anaerobic digestion (AD) as an immediate solution to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

According to ADBA, Britain's commitment to anaerobic digestion in mitigating climate change is needed more than ever ahead of COP26, the UN climate change conference which takes place in Glasgow in November.

The Association says that fully deployed, AD could deliver 6% GHG emissions reduction by 2030, especially in carbon-intensive industries such as transport, heat and agriculture

ADBA has renewed its call for the Government to urgently create a policy framework that will unlock the industry's potential to reduce UK annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 6% by 2030 - and play a vital role in mitigating the climate emergency within this decade.

Charlotte Morton, ADBA's Chief Executive, commented:

"Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a mature, readily available technology which offers a fully circular and immediate solution to help address climate change in the short as well as long term, by capturing methane-emitting organic wastes and transforming them into biogas (also known as biomethane), digestate (a biofertiliser), bioCO2 and other valuable bioproducts.

“Crucially, AD helps decarbonise carbon-intensive industries such as transport, heat and agriculture by producing alternatives to fossil-based fuels, gases and fertilisers.

"The UK AD sector has however suffered from a lack of coordination between government departments to provide a coherent platform on which to fully deploy this industry which not only generates green energy, but also acts as a waste management solution.”

Research by ADBA has shown that there are 170 million tonnes of organic wastes generated every year in the UK, most of which is mismanaged (eg. sent to landfill, incineration, or spread onto land - where they emit harmful greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is 84 times more toxic than CO2 over 20 years).

The Association says if those organic wastes were treated through AD, the industry would be able to reduce those emissions by 3% upstream of the process and deliver another 3% cut in emissions downstream by displacing the fossil-based products currently used for transport, heating and farming.

However, in its recent Progress Report to Parliament 2021, the UK Committee on Climate Change had highlighted the huge gap between the Government's ambition and policy reality.

Charlotte Morton continued:

"Given the very stark message issued by the IPCC, it is crucial that the British Government shows leadership in fully integrating AD and biogas into its Paris Agreement and Net Zero targets."

" We were dismayed, for example, that ministers having vowed to treble the production of biomethane by 2030 in December, we found the Transport Decarbonisation Plan published last month by the Department of Transport didn't even mention it.”

"Trucks and buses currently generate 20% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions from transport, which is itself the highest GHG emitting sector in the UK with 27%. Biomethane could reduce these HGVs emissions by 38%. Municipalities and major retailers are already successfully using fleets of biomethane-powered vehicles to decarbonise their operations - so why would policy-makers not embrace this option and support its rapid deployment?”

"We are running out of time to avert a climate catastrophe and it's time that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet put words into real action. ..There is no Net Zero without biogas."

Biogas upgraded to biomethane can be directly injected into the existing gas grid and immediately decarbonise the heat sector. It is also a highly versatile green gas which can be converted to green hydrogen using existing technology if required.

There are currently 685 AD plants operational in the UK – with an estimated 16 TWh of biogas is produced each year by the AD industry.

The green gas is either used to generate electricity and heat via a combined heat and power (CHP) unit or upgraded to biomethane and injected directly into the national gas grid. This is enough to heat 1.3 million UK homes.

The anaerobic digestion process has been in use for decades in the UK by the water industry - 93% of sewage sludge in the UK is treated by AD or AAD.

Water sector regulator Ofwat sees development of the bioresources market in the water sector as a key route to develop even more low-carbon energy generation and reduce water bills.

Click here to access the ADBA report Biomethane and hydrogen: two green gases, one future (2021)