If Europe achieves its\u00a02030 biomethane target<\/a>\u00a0it will have unwittingly created the conditions to cheaply mitigate the carbon emissions equivalent of an entire member state, writes James Cogan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making biomethane is all about separating carbon dioxide from biogas, at a rate of nearly a kilo of CO2 per cubic metre of biomethane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Europe\u2019s 35 billion cubic metre biomethane target for the end of the decade will involve separation of 30 million tonnes of CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add in the easily separated carbon dioxide from ethanol production and the figure jumps to around 40 million tonnes. European wine and beer production could add another two million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The total of this atmospheric carbon, captured first by photosynthesis then separated by fermentation, is huge. It\u2019s as big as the emissions of countries<\/a> the size of Hungary, Sweden or Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not fossil carbon, but it\u2019s carbon just the same. Removing fermentation carbon brings the same positive impact as capturing CO2 directly from the air but at a fraction of the cost of direct air capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forty million tonnes of CO2 is way less than the 300 million the European Commission believes<\/a> will need to be captured and stored every year by 2050 if Europe is to meet its climate neutrality goal, but it\u2019s way more than the current target of 5 million tonnes by 2030<\/a> and infinitely more than what will be achieved based on current policy support, which is essentially zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If even a modest portion of Europe\u2019s biomethane target is reached by 2030 the opportunity is still fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course separation of carbon dioxide at source is only the start. The gas then needs to be transported to geological storage sites, pumped into them and kept there forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The availability of suitable sites in Europe is not an issue. The Danish government estimates<\/a> that there are sufficient geological sites \u2013 from depleted oil and gas fields to deep underground saline aquifers \u2013 to hold the equivalent of 300 years of the carbon dioxide output of Europe\u2019s main single source producers of the gas. Only a small fraction of this would be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n