European Renewable Gas Registry
Brussels, October 2022 – ERGaR is recruiting a new Communications & Policy Officer
Until 23 June 2023, ERGaR will be accepting applications for the role of Communications & Policy Officer.
Please find the job description and further details here:
20230608 ERGaR Comms & Policy Officer_Job Description
For questions, please contact Tim Hamers, Secretary General at tim_hamers@ergar.org.
Brussels, May 2023. Tim Hamers Begins as New ERGaR Secretary General
We are happy to welcome Tim Hamers as our new Secretary General.
Tim has been active in Brussels for over 10 years. This mainly includes roles in European and national industry associations in the areas of agricultural machinery, mechanical engineering, and, most recently, the weighing industry.
On his new role, Tim says: “I’m excited to start working for ERGaR during these interesting times for the renewable energy sector. Renewable gas certificates are an essential pillar in increasing the share of renewable energy and I’m glad to be able to contribute to the progress of these certificates within ERGaR.”
We look forward to collaborating and working towards the development of renewable gas certificates in Europe!
Brussels, February 2023 – ERGaR and Five Other Associations Send Joint Letter to European Commission Regarding Union Database
Together with the European Biogas Association (EBA), the European Federation of Energy Traders (EFET), Eurogas, ENTSO-G, and Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), a joint letter was sent to DG ENER of the European Commission to raise serious concerns on the operational design and launch planning of the Union Database.
With the goal of tracing gaseous and liquid transport fuels according to the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) and the corresponding Implementation Act for Voluntary Schemes, the co-signatories have voiced their concerns regarding pending separate tradability of certificates from the underlying commodity and system integrity. Further, the lack of information and due notification to market participants would hinder a sufficient preparation regarding the launch of the Union Database.
Recommendations include:
Resume regular focus groups with gas market participants, system operators, voluntary schemes and GO registries on pending operational design issues of the UDB, to ensure and clarify:
Adjust the proposed timeline to set 2023 (at least) as a testing year for all fuels. This timeline should be shared as soon as possible with all stakeholders to ensure adequate preparation and to other policymakers to avoid mismatch within the EU policy framework.
Reassure market participants that the launch of the Union Database will occur only when it has proven fully functional based on the following conditions:
Brussels, February 2023 – ERGaR Joins Biogas Trade Bodies and Other Companies Call for an Urgent Rethink on GHG Protocol Guidance for Corporate Biomethane Use Reporting
Over 50 biogas and biomethane trade associations and companies from around the world have written to the World Resources Institute (WRI), administrator of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (1), calling for a rethink of its position on the use of biomethane certificates for greenhouse gas reporting by corporate gas users.
The GHG Protocol is globally recognised as the leading GHG accounting standard. Until recently, corporates wanting to decarbonise their emissions purchased biomethane certificates and reported this as part of their Scope 1 emissions accounting (2). This led to investment in new biomethane production infrastructure, which the world critically needs to cut methane emissions from organic wastes and generate green gas, biofertilisers and bioCO2, but this will no longer be possible under the proposed new guidance.
In their letter to the WRI, ERGaR joined the World Biogas Association together with national trade bodies from across Europe, North and Latin America, Africa and Oceania, as well as stakeholders including major operators such as TotalEnergies, Nature Energy, Clarke Energy and Engie to express their concern about the impact of the proposed new “Land Sector and Removals Guidance” (3) on the production of biomethane.
In particular, the signatories ask for the removal of Annex B of the guidance and for the reinstatement of the existing guidance allowing companies to purchase biomethane certificates as part of their Scope 1 reporting (4). The new guidance requires physical delivery of biomethane to corporate consumers via dedicated pipelines or road transport, rather than via existing gas grids, which is logistically and commercially unviable, and will lead to increased emissions.
“The proposed changes have the potential to immediately halve investment in a renewable technology that could deliver one third of today’s global natural gas consumption, half of the Global Methane Pledge and a 10% reduction in total global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create millions of green jobs”, explains Charlotte Morton, WBA Chief Executive. “Alongside the many other signatories, we call on the WRI to remove the Annex and work with the sector to develop criteria to ensure that biomethane certificates evidence real decarbonisation.”
(1) Developed in 2015, The GHG Protocol establishes comprehensive global standardized frameworks to measure and manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains and mitigation actions.
(2) The framework for companies to measure and manage their GHG emissions is established within three ‘scopes’:
(3) The draft “Land Sector and Removals Guidance” is a supplement to the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, which establishes the methodology for corporations to carry out inventories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their operations and report on their use of green alternatives to fossil gas, such as biomethane.
(4) Under the current guidance, it is specifically stated that a company which purchases biogas or biomethane via a contractual instrument, compliant with the ‘GHG Protocol Scope 2 Quality Criteria’, may report scope 1 emissions for biomethane using the market-based method and using a specific emission factor. As a result, certificates from the AD sector became an attractive means of evidencing GHG reduction across a wide variety of industries, and supported investment of new biomethane production infrastructure, which is critical if the world is to achieve its 2030 climate targets and keep alive the possibility of meeting the 1.5 degree target.
Brussels, December 2022 – ERGaR reacts to Greenhouse Gas Protocol in Joint Letter
Along with 13 other organisations active in the gas sector, ERGaR has reacted to the proposed changes in the current Greenhouse Gas Protocol of the World Resources Institute.
More specifically, this refers to the new draft on “Land Sector and Removals Guidance”. Here, we have raised serious concerns over the prevention of corporate users from using market-based instruments to report reduced GHG emissions from biomethane consumption. According to the signatories of the letter, this would hinder the European Union’s efforts to develop the goal of producing 35 bcm of domestic biomethane by 2030.
Please find the letter here: 20221130 – Joint letter to GHGP Director – GHG Protocol
Brussels, November 2022 – ERGaR takes part in kick-off meeting of METHAREN Project
On 23-24 November, ERGaR had the honor to take part in the kick-off meeting of the METHAREN project in Paris.
Together with 17 other project partners from 8 countries, the goal is the demonstration of a cost-effective, innovative, more sustainable, and circular biomethane production system enabling the management of the intermittency of renewable energies.
Here, ERGaR will be part of the work package focusing on guidelines and policy recommendations.
We look forward to being part of a vital project on gasification and methanisation!
Brussels, October 2022 – ERGaR is recruiting a new Secretary General
Until 18 November 2022, ERGaR will be accepting applications for the role of Secretary General.
Please find the job description and further details here:
221020_ERGaR_job description SG
For questions, please contact Katharina Kramer, Assistant Secretary General at kramer@ergar.org.
Brussels, October 2022 – REGATRACE Final Conference to Take Place in November
The final conference of the REGATRACE project is set for Wednesday, 16 November 2022 at the Thon Hotel in Brussels.
Please find the agenda here.
We kindly ask you to register for the conference using this link.
For more information, please consult the conference website, which is regularly updated.
Brussels, October 2022 – Uniper Global Commodities SE admitted as new Associated Member to ERGaR
ERGaR is happy to welcome Uniper Global Commodities SE as a new Associated Member to the organisation.
With their commodities trading business sitting at the heart of their power and gas portfolio, Uniper optimizes and dispatches their generation assets, guides their gas business (transport, storage, and wholesale marketing) and manages risk. Uniper Global Commodities SE has detailed knowledge of international markets in which they operate: interconnection capacities, gas flows, price differences between regions, correlation between commodities, regulatory regimes and the impact of weather and other factors on the production and consumption of energy. Their seasoned traders design strategies to optimize the value of their assets, to hedge commodity price risks, and to ensure that their enterprise partners and customers have a reliable supply of energy.
For more information, please visit https://www.uniper.energy
Brussels, July 2022 – Titan admitted as new Associated Member to ERGaR
ERGaR is happy to welcome Titan as a new Associated Member to the organisation.
Since its establishment 2012 in Amsterdam, Titan has been a leading supplier of liquefied natural gas and liquefied biomethane. With its specialisation in providing shipping customers end-to-end clean fuel solutions, the company works with other low carbon and carbon neutral marine fuels providers to enable reliable availability and supply around the world.
For more information, please visit https://titan-cleanfuels.com