Anders Mathiasson

EBA President - Sweden

Swedish Gas Association

Anders started his professional career in the construction sector after a master’s degree in civil engineering. A little more than 25 years ago, he entered the energy and gas industry. In the mid1990s he started to work for the energy company Öresundskraft in Southern Sweden as Managing Director of their marketing and sales company, then as CEO of the Swedish Gas Association between 2004 and 2016. Today he is an independent consultant and senior advisor to the Swedish Gas Association.

As part o his work in the Swedish Gas Association, he worked to improve the conditions for the use of biogas in the industry and transport sectors on the Swedish market. Between 2017 and 2018 he was appointed project manager to develop a proposal for a national biogas strategy in Sweden. This work formed the basis for some of the government’s proposals for improved conditions for biogas.

Between 2007 and 2015 he was also member of the Board of Directors at NGVA Europe. He has been Board of the EBA since 2016 and became President of the association in May 2022.

Michael Niederbacher

EBA Vice-President and CAC Chairman - TerraX

TerraX

Michael is Board Member of the EBA since 2019 and he chairs the Company Advisory Council of the association. Michael is founder and CEO of TerraX, where he works in the development of new technologies in the field of the anaerobic digestion to produce biogas/biomethane and gasification to produce hydrogen. As by-products of these processes, he is able to produce a green fertilizer as digestate and premium green biochar.

Prior to this, he was CEO of BTS Biogas, an international leading company in biogas plant engineering and construction. As agriculturalist, graduated at the BOKU (University of Natural Resources and Life Science) in Vienna, he has devoted over 20 years of his life to the world of biogas. He was also cofounder of the Klimaenergy fiery in Bozen, the Consorzio Italiano Biogas (CIB) and finally the European Biogas Association (EBA).

Michael studied agricultural economics in Vienna – BOKU. His proudest AD accomplishment is the development of an AD plant in his home village in 2000. His driving force: protecting our planet and preserve nature for our future generations.

Prof. Erik Meers

EBA Executive Board Member and SAC Chairman - Belgium

Biogas-E, Belgium

Erik Meers achieved his PhD in 2005 (Bioscience Engineering) and fulfilled an additional postdoc in Environmental Remediation in collaboration with Industry thereafter. In the period 2007-2012 he was national Business & Technology Developer for a multinational energy producer, specializing in biogas projects and associated R&D. In 2012-2016 he coordinated the regional biogas platform in Flanders, Belgium (Biogas-E). As of 2016 he returned to academia (Ghent University, BE) where he developed a team in Bioresource Recovery, which grew quickly and is now counting 50 team members. One of the spearpoints in the research remains (naturally) to be biogas oriented. Over the course of his career he founded 8 SMEs and also set up science communication, science bus. Development and community platforms (www.biorefine.eu, www.re-source.bio, www.nutricycle.vlaanderen, End-of-Waste).

Erik Meers has joined EBA over 8 years ago. He introduced the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) into the fabric and frameworks of EBA in order to interconnect EBA activities with research institutes as well as with European projects, considering this as a natural growth for EBA on top of national associations and companies. A third pillar for EBA to deploy and develop. Also in the understanding that public acceptance as well as the perception and good-will of policy makers needed to be technically substantiated by technical activities, in order for the business and societal development to flourish and the EU policy agenda to enjoy technical supporting evidence.

Piero Gattoni

EBA Executive Board Member - Italy

Italian Biogas Association

Piero Gattoni has a Degree in Economics at University Cattolica of Sacro Cuore in Milan (1997).
He operates his family’s farm in North Italy with great passion for breeding, cheese production and renewable energy, running a biogas plant since 2010, promoting biogas and biomethane technology.

Piero was the Vice-President of Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano (2008-2016) and he is the President of CIB – Consorzio Italiano Biogas since 2011. He is founder and Executive Board Member in EBA and was also Vice President of the assocaition for the period 2019-2020 and Acting President in 2021. He is also founding member of the Gas for Climate consortium.

Philipp Lukas

EBA Executive Board Member - UK

REA, UK

Philipp Lukas is Chief Executive Officer of Future Biogas. Since 2008 Future Biogas has grown into a team of over 120 employees dealing with all aspects of biogas, from feedstock acquisition and biology through operations and maintenance, to all aspects of financial, regulatory and sustainability reporting. It has developed, built and operates 11 plants across the UK, making it the largest biomethane producer in the UK. Philipp’s background is in law and renewables, but he is now a passionate advocate for the role of biogas in the energy transition and sustainable agriculture. He is also a member of the REA Green Gas Steering Group.

For over a decade the EBA has built a reputation in Brussels as the voice of biogas and biomethane and he has been part of that journey for quite a while, first as chairman of the CAC and since 2017 as a board member – representing also the UK trade associations, particularly the REA who have a close working relationship with EBA.

Stefan Rauh

EBA Executive Board Member - Germany

FvB, Germany

Dr. Stefan Rauh studied agricultural sciences at the Technical University of Munich. The focus of his studies was crop production and economic analysis in the field of renewable energies. At the end of 2009, immediately after completing his doctorate, he switched to the German Biogas Association. Since then, he has been head of the agriculture department and has also been managing director since June 2013.

Since his studies in agricultural sciences, renewable energies have accompanied him and have not let him go. For years, his main concern in daily work has been to communicate the valuable characteristics of the biogas sector to policy makers in Germany to develop the sector. This contribution to the energy system must now be maintained and sustainably expanded in the coming years.

Stefan is a Board Member of the EBA since 2022.

Niels Peters

EBA Executive Board Member - The Netherlands

Dutch Biogas Association

Niels has been active in the renewable energy sector for more than 15 years and the last 10 years he has been specifically active in the biogas sector. He started as an employee at a biogas installation and since 2020 he is the CEO (and co-owner) of SFP Group. The SFP Group develops, builds and operates several biogas plants in the Netherlands and abroad, on an industrial scale.

Beside mid-sized biomethane plants, industrial scale biomethane plants are needed to ensure the fast uptake of biomethane in within Europe. Niels’ practical background as a biogas plant owner and experience on managing larger scale plants, including funding, permitting and securement of supply, bring a strong contribution to the Executive Board.

Niels has been Board Member of the Dutch Biogas Association since 2016 and Board Member of the EBA since 2019.

Gregory Krupnikovs

EBA Executive Board Member - Rika Biotech

Gregory is the founder of Rika Biotech and has been involved in large scale renewable energy projects for over 15 years, having developed multiple biogas projects across the UK and Europe. Prior to that, he secured $100 million in funding, was the founding partner of companies that owned 82,000ha of farms in Ukraine. Gregory was a Consultant for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and a member of the team conducting biogas studies for the UNDP in Serbia.

He is as member of the EBA Board since 2022.

Olivier Aubert

EBA Executive Board Member - SWEN Impact Fund for Transition

Olivier AUBERT is a Civil Engineer with 25 years experience in the Gas & Electricity sector. He is a former Deputy CEO of GRTgaz, the French natural gas transmission operator. Has lead the development of the biomethane injection in France since 2012. In 2019, he founded the two first Infrastructure Funds dedicated to biomethane production in Europe, having raised 420M€ of equity. Since then, the Funds have invested in more than 100 biomethane plants in 6 European Countries.

He brings to the CAB his expertise in identifying the specific bottlenecks in financing biogas/biomethane plants in different geographies, with a view to achieve 35 bcm in 2030 as per RePowerEU.