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Green gas vital to UK carbon abatement

In the wake of a “historic” agreement reached at the Paris Climate Change conference, with a commitment to keep global temperatures well below 20C, the UK government’s revised green gas strategy could place anaerobic digestion (AD) at the heart of UK carbon abatement efforts. 

ADBA’s Chief Executive, Charlotte Morton, commented:

The historic commitment to limiting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions must now prove to be more than just a photo opportunity for world leaders. David Cameron must now assess government's ability to deliver on the UK’s commitment to cutting emissions.

With the RHI budget commitment, AD can now deliver a third of the additional 20TWh renewable heat required by 2020 to meet the government’s 12% target.

But this is only a fraction of the overall carbon abatement value that AD possesses – by reducing carbon emissions from alternative fossil fuel energy sources, rotting manures, landfilled food waste and artificial fertilisers, AD’s vital role in decarbonising electricity, heat, farming and transport alone could reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 4%. 

By acting now with renewed support under the feed-in tariff, government could reverse the collapse in investor certainty which will see deployment in additional AD electrical capacity beyond 2016 collapse to negligible levels.  

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