NGVA Europe regrets that, despite numerous calls from the industry, the European Commission failed to acknowledge the potential of biomethane to decarbonise transport within the recently approved EU Taxonomy’s criteria.

While we welcome the inclusion of the production of biomethane for transport as a long term sustainable activity, NGVA Europe also points out the inconsistency of not considering activities linked to the consumption of biomethane in cars, vans, trucks and coaches, as green. This incoherence threatens the usability of the Taxonomy as a tool to guide investments towards sustainable activities, and therefore its credibility as an instrument to support decarbonisation of the European economy.

Dr. Jens Andersen, Secretary General of NGVA Europe, further comments : « The EU Taxonomy should support all technologies that can contribute to cost effectively reduce GHG emissions in transport and reach our 2030 target, instead of forcing investments towards a limited set of solutions. Science tells us that biomethane used as a fuel allows for considerable reductions of carbon emissions[1]. Biomethane-based mobility is fully in line with fit-for-55. The fact that the Taxonomy fails to recognise this represents a missed opportunity for the EU to accelerate decarbonisation of its transport sector as of today. ».

[1] The Well-To-Tank report v5 of the JEC Consortium shows that the use of biogas in transport allows for low-carbon and even carbon-negative well-to-wheel emissions.