Consorzio Italiano Biogas, Snam and Confagricoltura presented a joint manifesto of support for the Italian biomethane supply chain, a renewable energy obtained from the anaerobic digestion of agricultural and agro-industrial biomass. The document, addressed to the government and the European Commission, was presented on Thursday 25 February in Rome during Biogas Italy, the General States of Biogas promoted by the CIB in collaboration with Rimini Fiera.
“Biomethane – reads the press release – is a renewable, sustainable, programmable source and allows the development of a production chain characterized by economies of scale, variety and integration with positive effects on the economic system in terms of technological innovation in manufacturing, agricultural and urban utilities sectors. The ministerial decree of 5 December 2013 has already authorized the production and use of biomethane in road haulage and its introduction into the natural gas transport network, but the absence to date of some regulatory indications, also at European level, ensures that the decree is only partially operational".
In particular, "the manifesto highlights the need to develop an agenda for biomethane - continues the note - with the aim of redefining the time interval for accessing the incentives, given the need to modulate their implementation; the prediction of an annual target of biomethane to be introduced into the network by 2030; the updating of the national legislation on advanced biofuels in line with the ILUC directive and the provision of a system that enhances the role of the biomethane production chain in the CO2 reduction strategy”.
Italy, with 1500 anaerobic digestion plants in operation, is today the third largest producer in the world of biogas from agricultural sources with 2 billion cubic meters per year. By 2030, the sector could satisfy 10% of the national demand for natural gas, equal to approximately 8 billion cubic metres.
“Biomethane – comments Piero Gattoni, president of the Italian Biogas Consortium – is strategic both in terms of national energy policies and in terms of the environment. Its production process can help to significantly reduce emissions from the agricultural sector, which represent 14% of climate-altering gases globally, and to restore organic matter to the soil. The digestate, what remains after the anaerobic digestion process of agricultural matrices, is an excellent natural soil conditioner. In this way, agricultural businesses can reduce their production costs and increase competitiveness and traditional agricultural production. A circular economy model, which some researchers and farmers have renamed "biogas done right", capable of relaunching not only agriculture, but also the Italian economic and industrial system".
