The Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) advocates that the next Scottish Government should embrace the full potential biogas offers to energy security, rural economies and Scotland's key farming and distilling sectors. 

In a Green Gas Manifesto entitled 'Powering Prosperity: Scotland's Biogas Opportunity' launched ahead of the Scottish Elections on 7 May, ADBA highlights how the biogas sector is uniquely positioned to provide dispatchable green energy, cut emissions from the hardest to decarbonise sectors, support rural and economic growth, and cement Scotland's place as leader in biogas and green energy.
 
In the manifesto, ADBA is calling for the implementation of a £50 million fund to support farmers across Scotland to finance the installation of modular systems that will reduce their own heating and energy bills, and offer the opportunity to diversify their income.  

This fund could see more than 100 farmers benefit from the circular system saving the equivalent of more than half a million tonnes of CO2, and upwards of £100,000 a year off their bills. 

The manifesto highlights the environmental benefits the sector can bring, including reducing food waste in landfill, and enabling Scottish farmers to replace synthetic fertilisers with the biofertilisers (digestate) generated through anaerobic digestion (AD) – the process used to produce biogas. 

Collectively these actions could save the equivalent of one million short haul return flights' worth of carbon with the adoption of a "digestate first" fertiliser plan, and carbon removals similar to the planting of a quarter of a billion trees across Scotland. 

Chris Huhne, chair of ADBA, said: