A Role for Biogas in Limiting Climate Change - Progress Since the Paris Agreement - IPCC Report Autumn 2018

Progress Since the Paris Agreement of December 2015, and Biogas Production Toward Limiting Climate Change

The 197 signatories of the Paris Agreement committed to curbing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global temperature exceeding the pre-industrial average by more than 2°C.

Since the agreement was signed in December 2015, every signatory has ratified it into law and some 1,500 pieces of legislation have been enacted to drive compliance.

Three years ago, climate science indicated that beyond 2°C there was an increasing risk of passing a "tipping point"', where feedback loops within the climate system will propel runaway change.

But in October 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported its findings from a three-year study comparing the impacts of climate change if limited to 1.5°C, compared to 2°C. It drew on 6,000 scientific contributions and 42,000 expert and government opinions.

Halting global temperature rise at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels would bring major benefits for the environment, society and economy, the report says.

It warns that the global impacts of climate change will be much more severe under a 2°C scenario than previously estimated.

The report highlights the need to adopt the 1.5°C threshold to prevent "dangerous climate change".

The IPCC emphasizes that the global temperature is already 1°C above the pre-industrial average.

That's the end of our progress update, since the Paris Agreement of December 2015.

So what can be done now, without waiting for new technologies, and also make a difference by helping all governments to comply?
The answer is to introduce ambitious targets to accelerate the installation of on-farm biogas plants.

That's because: Worldwide GHG emissions from livestock supply chains are estimated to produce 7.1 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per annum. This represents 14.5% of all human-induced emissions.

Of the total, storage and handling of manure represent 10 per cent.

Therefore, On-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) of manures has significant potential to capture methane as a renewable energy source and, as a consequence, to reduce net global GHG emissions. 

UK biogas production in 2018 already created enough power to replace one major UK power station of which there are about 1 dozen in operation.


That's easily enough, to "make a difference"! So, we encourage you to promote anaerobic digestion and biogas to your politicians, and return here to comment, and tell us about the replies you get.

Sources: 1. New Civil Engineer, December 2018
and 2. the  IEA Bioenergy report, " Exploring the viability of small scale anaerobic digesters in livestock farming", by Clare Lukehurst and Angela Bywater (2015). Video by: www.anaerobic-digestion.com .
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Bad News for Agricultural Use of Anaerobic Digestion in Agriculture - DEFRA 2005 Report is Discussed

New Web Page about the Agricultural Use of Anaerobic Digestion for Livestock Manures and Slurries

The Anaerobic Digestion.Com web site has [so far] been short on information on Agricultural AD. This actually only reflects the position in the UK which had more on-farm AD units in operation during the mid-1990s than it does now.

Probably the most authoritative recent study on the viability of anaerobic digestion is the report prepared for the Sustainable Agriculture Strategy Division of the United Kingdom Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

This is not a new report as it was published in October 2005, however, we do think it worth studying for anyone interested in utilising this abundant source of on-farm AD and Centralised Anaerobic Digestion (CAD) feedstock.

The report is really quite heavily negative about the economic vialbility of this form of AD, under the then, and current, regime in which the UK government is not providing direct financial support for AD.We would argue that:-Our view at Anaerobic-Digestion.Com is that there is a very good case for additional government investment in on-farm AD.

There is a significant win to be found from the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and the necessary £143 lifetime costs estimated for the first twenty plants in this report would surely deliver big bonuses in the development of the technology. If done well this investment would act as the seed corn for the mature development of the Anaerobic Digestion industry at which time costs would surely plummet.

Were we not at a similar stage with wind turbines no more than ten years ago?Surely many of us can remember that wind turbine rotor blade failures featured heavily in the news. The doubters were saying that the reliability problems being experienced in that industry at the time were close to insoluble for such highly stressed and massive blades.

Yet now who even mentions such problems?

The parallels are all around us which show us the benefits of strategic investment and the potential in Anaerobic Digestion. Let us see some leadership from our politicians who should by now realise that the public demand for action on carbon emissions is high.

The public also increasingly want to buy renewable power for their own domestic use, and so the provision of financial incentives for Anaerobic Digestion would help in this and other many ways.

Visit our new web page on the Agricultural Use of Anaerobic Digestion here.