Facilitating cross border trade of biomethane

A recent report of Common Futures for the Biomethane Industrial Partnership (BIP) has identified that the emissions of imported or exported biomethane via pipelines is not being accurately tracked between EU Member States for emission inventories prepared for the UNFCCC. This brief report explores starting points for potential solutions to the issues identified in the report.

Recommendations:

• Communicate the current knowledge on how to report emissions of biomethane trade via pipelines with policy officers, energy ministries and national statistic offices of EU MS, and gather insights on the main concerns. This could be done through the BIP.
• Formulate a way forward: Should reporting methodologies for traded biomethane be changed, and if so, how? This should be done in a larger forum with EU MS policymakers and inventory compilers, Eurostat and the EEA. For example, the European Statistical System Committee. The potential solutions below could be further solidified during these discussions.
• Analyse how biomethane subsidies and incentives in EU MS interact with emission reporting methodologies and affect cross border trade. Are these policies restrictive, and would they be adapted if reporting methodologies are streamlined and/or change?