Germany’s Biomethane Reform Creates Demand, but Can Supply Qualify?

Germany’s building energy reform creates a mandatory market for biomethane that does not currently exist. The GModG introduces a Green Gas Quota for gas suppliers from 2028 and a renewable heating obligation for replaced heating systems from 2029. The legislation is largely defined. The certification infrastructure to serve it is still being built.

Cross-border biomethane trade into Germany already runs at scale. Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands have been the primary origins. But certificate transfers depend on registry systems, and Europe has two: ERGaR and the AIB Gas Scheme operate in parallel without automatic mutual recognition. Germany sits within the ERGaR hub. Several of its main trading partners are moving toward AIB.

The Netherlands completed that transition in mid-2025. From July 2026, VertiCer will no longer transfer certificates directly to the dena Biogasregister; because dena is not the officially recognised issuing body under the new EU rules. Denmark, Germany’s largest import origin by volume, has applied for full AIB membership.

The question for the new compliance market is not whether European supply volumes exist. It is whether those volumes carry documentation that German buyers can accept. That means ERGaR transfer capability, compliance with dena’s specific audit and quality guidelines, and for GHG eligibility, active registration in Nabisy, a system that splits CI scores on a feedstock-line basis, unlike most other European PoS frameworks.

The Eckpunkte defining the Grüngas-Quote certification rules are expected this summer. What they say will determine how much of the existing European supply base is actually accessible when the market opens in 2028.

Tim Holand is speaking at Biogas Summit Europe 2026 in Frankfurt — Tuesday 16 June, 09:40 CET.