October 23, 2025. Under the theme “Biogases: Leading globally, acting locally”, over 1,000 participants gathered at the third edition of the European Biomethane Week 2025 in Brussels, touching on a “very important subject at a very important time” as underlined by the European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen in his opening statement. “Biomethane (…) provides clean energy to support the competitiveness of European industries and can strengthen our security and independence by enabling us to diversify our gas supplies with a homegrown alternative.,” he explained.
Echoing this message, Julijus Grubliauskas, Climate and Energy Security Officer at NATO’s Emerging Security Challenges Division, underscored the critical importance of homegrown energy production. “Europe has taken significant steps toward strengthening its energy security, but the current geopolitical landscape requires even greater foresight. (…) Energy is both a target and a key enabler of defense and security. We need to ensure strong local supply, reduce our reliance on Russian gas, and stay ahead in the global competition for supply chains.”
Beyond securing energy, biogases offer a cost-effective route for the defossilization of multiple end-use sectors and industries, notably those that are difficult to electrify. Biogases leverage on existing gas infrastructure and represent the cheapest renewable gas solution available today. Daniel Mes, Member of the European Commission Task Force on the EU’s Future Competitiveness, stressed: “Europe is open for business for biomethane. But saying we are open for business is the easy part; the real task is to help build the business case. (…) Biomethane is one of the ventures we aim to advance through close cooperation with industry, as partnership will be key to delivering on the Clean Industrial Deal.”
From a financing perspective, Josep Oriol Bellot Miana, Senior Engineer at the European Investment Bank, reaffirmed the strong investment case for biogases: “By contributing to climate change and environmental objectives, biogases score 100% Climate Finance contribution.”
In a more pragmatic tone, reflecting on the current state of the sector, EBA CEO Harmen Dekker called for urgent action to address the challenges hindering biomethane growth in Europe in his closing remarks. “Despite Europe’s strong potential, growth is slowing down. Persistent barriers, including lengthy permitting or injection hurdles, limited cross-border trade, and lack of public understanding, are holding the sector back. To unlock its full potential, Europe needs long-term certainty, streamlined permits, broader public support, better network integration, and full valorization of digestate and bio-CO2, the co-products of biogas production” he recalled. The industry strands ready to work in this direction with all actors, policymakers, industries, civil society and communities, to drive resilient growth and ensure the sustainability of the sector.
