Biogas Is Getting Cooler in Europe
Four important pieces of news about the European biogas and biomethane market have emerged in recent weeks. Each is noteworthy on its own – together they signal that the process is accelerating.
Denmark: a record, but not enough
Denmark has long been the frontrunner of the European biomethane market. The country has developed the sector deliberately for years: strong state incentives, embedded infrastructure and a broad producer base. According to the World Biogas Association's (WBA) round-up at the end of March, Denmark's biogas production in 2025 exceeded 40% of the country's total gas consumption – a European record and an impressive figure in itself (World Biogas Association, 2026).
But industry players warn that the sector's expansion is not keeping pace with Denmark's growing energy demand.
The Danish model is both the most advanced and the most vulnerable in Europe: on the one hand the country is already having to export some of the biomethane it produces, on the other domestic demand incentives have started to weaken. The record therefore marks the start of a new chapter.
Dublin: the first data centre that really switched
Reconciling the digital industry with decarbonisation is one of the biggest open questions in Europe's energy transition. Data centre electricity use in the EU grew by 50% between 2022 and 2026 – and on top of that comes gas consumption, which until now almost nobody had addressed on a renewable basis.
In March 2026 Pure Data Centres Group (Pure DC) announced that in 2025 its Dublin data centre had been the first facility in Europe to cover its entire annual gas consumption with certified biomethane. Renewable gas guarantees of origin (Irish RGGOs and European GOs) were purchased and redeemed on a megawatt-hour basis – meeting the criteria of the EU ETS, RE100 and Ireland's National Biomethane Strategy.
Pure DC itself stresses that this is a proof of concept – not an end goal but a commercial model that other European data centres can follow.
The company is already exploring Irish biomethane purchase agreements (BPAs) and longer-term renewable energy solutions.
Poland: a law for Central and Eastern Europe
In 2025 Poland injected biomethane into the national gas grid for the first time – a symbolic but important milestone for the region. In March 2026 it went a step further, amending its national energy law to simplify permitting for biogas plants and speed up grid connections.
It is the first reform of its kind for biomethane grid integration in Central and Eastern Europe, and it sends a direct message to countries where regulatory obstacles are currently the biggest brake on the sector's development.
According to the WBA's March round-up, Romania integrated biomethane into its national gas law in the same period (World Biogas Association, 2026) – so the region moved on several fronts at once.
Spain: when war writes regulation
The fourth development is of a different nature: it is not the result of gradual progress but the direct consequence of a geopolitical shock.
On 20 March 2026 the Spanish government adopted Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 at an extraordinary meeting. The €5 billion package – triggered by the energy shock caused by war in the Middle East – contains 80 measures to strengthen energy security. These include faster permitting for renewables, new storage capacity and sustainability criteria for data centres.
One of the package's most significant structural elements, however, is mandatory biomethane blending targets for industrial use outside transport – a precedent-setting step at EU level.
Until now, biomethane mandates have typically applied to the transport sector. Spain has now extended them to industry – not voluntarily but out of necessity. But the result is the same.
Four countries, one direction
Denmark breaks records but does not slow down. Dublin shows how this can be applied in the digital industry. Poland and Romania are building regulatory frameworks in the region. And Spain is introducing a mandatory quota under the pressure of a wartime energy shock.
The four developments are not coordinated – yet they point in the same direction. In Europe, biomethane is no longer an experimental technology, and it is becoming less and less optional in the energy mix.
The last weeks of March brought an unusual news cycle for Europe's biogas sector. Four important advances took place: Denmark reached the point where biomethane covers more than 40% of the country's gas consumption, a European record. In Dublin, a data centre became the first to decarbonise its entire annual gas use with certified biomethane. Poland amended its law to speed up grid connections for biogas plants – a precedent-setting step in Central and Eastern Europe. And Spain, under pressure from the energy shock caused by war in the Middle East, set mandatory biomethane blending targets in law for industry as well – a first in the EU.
The last weeks of March were unusually busy on the European biomethane market. Four separate developments came from different places – a record, a technological breakthrough, a Central European regulatory reform and a geopolitically forced move – which together point to an accelerating process.
Denmark has long been the benchmark for the European biomethane market. According to the World Biogas Association's (WBA) round-up of 30 March, in 2025 the country crossed the threshold at which biogas production covers more than 40% of total national gas consumption. That is remarkable in itself – but industry players warn that even this pace of expansion is not fast enough given rising energy demand.
In Dublin, Pure Data Centres Group (Pure DC) announced in March 2026 that its data centre had become the first in Europe to cover its entire annual gas consumption in 2025 with certified biomethane. The approach, based on guarantees of origin, offers a commercial model that other European data centres could adopt – especially as data centre energy use in the EU grew by 50% between 2022 and 2026.
Poland injected its first biomethane into the grid in 2025 and in March 2026 amended its law to speed up permitting and grid connection procedures. It is the first reform of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. In the same period, Romania included biomethane in its national gas law.
In Spain the shift is of a different nature: in response to the energy shock caused by war in the Middle East, the government adopted Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 at an extraordinary meeting on 20 March 2026, which – for the first time in the EU – sets mandatory biomethane blending targets for industrial use outside transport.
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