Biogas & e-methane ・ BLUE NOVA Hydrogen Journal Editorial Team ・

Hokkaido Gas achieves first in-house consumption of municipal sewage biogas certificates

Hokkaido Gas said it has for the first time turned a municipality's sewage-derived biogas into certificates and enabled the municipality to use them itself.

日本語で読む

Hokkaido Gas achieves first in-house consumption of municipal sewage biogas certificates
写真はイメージ / 写真: Florian Gerlach (Nawaro) / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons ライセンス

Hokkaido Gas said it has for the first time turned biogas derived from a municipal sewage system into environmental value certificates and enabled the municipality to use those certificates itself. The key point is that the environmental value of sewage-derived gas can now be recorded and traded as certificates.

The announcement centers on certifying a municipality's biogas and having the municipality use its environmental value for its own consumption. Certification means recording, as environmental value, the handling of the carbon dioxide released when the gas is burned.

Biogas is a methane-based gas produced when food waste or livestock manure is fermented by microorganisms. In sewage treatment, gas is generated when sludge is fermented in anaerobic digestion tanks, and it has conventionally often been used to heat those tanks. Burning methane releases carbon dioxide, but because the feedstock is biological, the emissions are treated as effectively offset under the concept of carbon neutrality.

Environmental value certificates are a system in which renewable energy or renewable-derived gas is traded separately from the physical flow of electricity or gas. A buyer can claim use of renewable-derived energy in calculating its own or its organization's emissions. However, the system requires strict institutional management to distinguish certificate trading from actual use.

In the case of in-house consumption, the certificates are not sold to outside buyers; instead, the municipality proves the value of the gas it generates and uses at its own facilities and projects. Compared with external sales, this makes it easier for the municipality to show its decarbonization progress as its own emission reductions. On the other hand, because the buyers are limited to the municipality itself, the scale of trading tends to be limited.

Key points to watch are whether other municipalities adopt similar systems, and how much gas is generated and how many certificates are issued. Because sewage facilities exist across Japan, the initiative is positioned as a way to make use of existing local infrastructure and sewage-derived resources.

Certification is also one way for businesses aiming for decarbonization to obtain environmental value without capital investment. However, it does not increase the amount of gas produced; it changes how biogas that is already being generated is used, and this point needs to be kept in mind.

BLUE NOVA Hydrogen Journal view

The announcement is significant because it converts biogas from sewage, an existing local resource, into a form that can be counted as a decarbonization achievement through certificates. If a municipality can demonstrate the value of gas generated at its own facilities through in-house use, it could serve as a reference case for other municipalities. However, the scope of the system will only become clear once figures for certificate volume and issuance are disclosed. It is necessary to understand the difference between external sales and in-house use when following future announcements.

Source: 日本経済新聞
This article was written by the editors based on the cited report and translated from Japanese. AI is used to assist in writing and translation.

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