The European Biogas Association (EBA) has released the 15th edition of its Statistical Report, providing the most comprehensive snapshot yet of biogas and biomethane markets across Europe.
The 2024–2025 data underscores the sector’s strategic role in Europe’s energy independence and decarbonisation goals—but also signals that regulatory uncertainty is slowing growth at a critical moment.
“With EU-27 gas consumption at 332 bcm, and 273 bcm still imported, the urgent need to scale domestic, renewable gas solutions has never been clearer,” the report states. Biogases offer a direct path to reducing strategic energy dependence while boosting Europe’s competitiveness in phasing out fossil fuels.
The report highlights a stark drop in EU dispatchable power generation, from 424 GW in 2012 to roughly 380 GW in 2023, despite rising flexibility needs. “As a clean, dispatchable energy source, biogases are essential for balancing the grid during extended periods of low solar and wind production,” EBA notes.
European biogas and biomethane production reached 22 bcm in 2024, up slightly from 21.7 bcm in 2023, with the bulk concentrated in EU-27 countries (19 bcm).
Current EU-27 output equals the entire inland gas demand of Belgium, Denmark, and Ireland combined—roughly 6% of the EU’s total consumption. Biomethane remains the fastest-growing segment, producing 5.2 bcm in 2024, 4.3 bcm of it within the EU-27, supported by 7 bcm/year of installed capacity by early 2025.
Europe ended 2024 with 1,620 biomethane-producing facilities, 111 more than the previous year, with at least 86% grid-connected. The number of producing countries has risen to 25, including Portugal (2022), Lithuania and Ukraine (2023), and Poland, which injected its first biomethane into the grid in 2025. Ahead of 2030, €28.4 billion in private investment has already been committed to biomethane development in Europe.
The average biomethane plant in Europe now produces 483 m³/h, nearly four times the size of traditional biogas plants used for electricity and heat. Production is increasingly shifting to sustainable feedstocks with the highest greenhouse-gas savings, including agricultural residues, organic municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, and industrial by-products.
Europe also generated 25 million tonnes of digestate in 2024, an established soil improver and organic fertiliser. Digestate currently substitutes 17% of the EU’s nitrogen-based fertilisers, with potential to replace more than 65% of non-renewable nitrogen by 2040.
The EBA stresses that unlocking this potential requires stronger coordination between EU institutions and national governments. “The potential for a Biogas Tripartite Agreement represents a critical opportunity to strengthen the coherence and predictability of policies at both European and national levels, key to restoring growth momentum and increasing demand for renewable gases,” the report says.
