Overview
Anaerobic digestion (AD) can play a major part in the fight against climate change. It has the ability to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 18-20% across the waste, agricultural, energy, and transport sectors. The industry is uniquely positioned to help achieve emissions reduction and mitigate many of the impacts of climate change through capturing organic wastes, producing renewable energy, and returning nutrients and organic content to the soil.
AD can help to achieve the global Paris Agreement goals and many of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, notably around food supply; clean energy for power; heat and transport and waste management, and improve soil, air and water quality.
In the UK, the government is under pressure to act on its climate change policies, with the independent Committee on Climate Change highlighting the gap between the policies required to meet targets set under the Climate Change Act and the policies currently in place. With the right support, AD can help the government to meet its climate goals by reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions by 4%, the equivalent to taking all heavy goods vehicles off the UK’s roads.
Climate Change highlights at UK AD and World Biogas Expo 2019
Decarbonising farming and urban living
- AD in agriculture – how to meet climate change targets
- Decarbonising heat and power through AD
- The role of waste water in the circular bio-economy
- New circular city models for food waste collection
- Developing a national strategy for biogas transport fuel
The role of biogas in tackling climate change
- The global potential of biogas technology: a new WBA report
- Meeting the world’s future energy needs – the IEA’s view on biogas
- IPCC report on climate mitigation and land use
- How branding could drive the biogas revolution
- What’s next for green gas?
- Beyond biogas: the rise of biorefining