The opportunity

Biogas and biomethane, a driver for ecological transition and agriculture

Gattoni (CIB): 'The Nitrates Directive is outdated, digestate is a resource for the circular economy'

4 June 2025

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Italy is today among the main biogas producers in Europe, with about 2,000 operational plants. Biomethane, obtained from the purification of biogas, is considered increasingly strategic for the energy transition because it can be used as a green fuel for transport, for the production of electricity and thermal energy, even in industrial sectors. And it has the potential to be an important lever for the decarbonisation of the agricultural sector, through the use of digestate - a by-product of the anaerobic digestion process, which produces biogas - as an alternative to chemical fertilisers, of which Italy is a major importer.

The relevance of the sector has also found recognition in public policies. The latest sign is the recent approval by the NRP steering committee of the reallocation of new resources for the development of biomethane. "These resources represent a fundamental step to allow the realisation of as many projects as possible that have already been admitted to the Gse rankings," says Pietro Gattoni, president of the Consorzio Italiano Biogas (Cib). "We are talking about 298 plants selected in the last auction, to be added to the 260 approved in the four previous ones. Now we need certain timeframes, rapid communications, and timely actions to complete the initiatives and to start planning for the post-Pnrr period. The risk is that the deadline of 30 June 2026 will end up excluding valid projects for mere bureaucratic issues'.

During Biogas Italy 2025, the Cib presented a two-stage roadmap: to accelerate the commissioning of the plants financed by the NRP and to outline a new support scheme for the following period. The goal, also contained in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (NIPEC), is ambitious: to produce 5 billion cubic metres of biomethane by 2030.

"The full implementation of the plants envisaged by the NRP would lead to a production increase of about 2.3 billion cubic metres per year, exceeding 3 billion in total by 2026," Gattoni points out. "But this is only a first step. In order to reach the 2030 targets, we will need structural tools, regulatory certainty and stable industrial planning'.

Sector numbers

"We are the second largest biogas producer in Europe, after Germany," Gattoni emphasises, "with over 2,0000 plants, most of which are still producing electricity from cogeneration. Since 2018, Italy has launched a new phase to encourage the production of biomethane to be fed directly into the gas grid, through two measures: the 2018 decree and, more recently, the Pnrr investment line in 2022, which allocated €1.73 billion for the development of the sector.

To date, 116 biomethane plants are operational, with an estimated annual production of around 800 million cubic metres, mainly for transport. 'In four years we have practically decarbonised the transport sector with methane,' explains the Cib president, 'national consumption is around 1.1 billion cubic metres, and biomethane has already covered most of the demand. Now we must extend this model to industry: paper, ceramics, steel. It is the new frontier of transition'.

Plant Conversion and Development in the Centre-South

To achieve the Pniec target, the reconversion of a significant share of existing plants will be crucial. "We are talking about a transformation that will involve at least 50-60% of installed power," Gattoni points out, "although many plants, especially small ones, will continue to play an important role in the programmable production of electricity. The focus is also on the Centre-South, where development has historically been slower but the potential in terms of the availability of agricultural biomass and by-products is high. Investing in these areas can help rebalance production geographically and create new opportunities for the southern agro-industrial system.

Digestate: from waste to agricultural resource

Today, digestate is already fully reused in agriculture, often through supply chain contracts between biogas plants and farms. But there is not much room for expansion, as it is not yet possible to build a market around this by-product, which must be treated and stored safely, due to the limitations of European regulations. "In Italy, the 2022 DL Taglia Prezzi (Price Cutting Decree) has put digestate on the same level as chemical fertilisers,' Gattoni recalls, 'but a major brake remains: the Nitrates Directive (Directive 91/676/EEC), which imposes a maximum limit of 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare, even for digestate produced from livestock manure. This is an obsolete threshold, which does not take into account the evolution of sustainable agricultural practices. We need an update at European level'.

A regulatory revision, in line with the Farm to Fork strategy, would strengthen the role of digestate in a circular economy and respond to the fertiliser crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine. "Biomethane is the only renewable gas already available, produced entirely in Italy, and capable of being scaled up quickly. It is an industrial opportunity, as well as an environmental one,' Gattoni concludes.

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