The International Energy Agency (IEA) has launched a new interactive map that provides insight into the sustainable technical potential of biogas and biomethane worldwide. According to the accompanying analysis, nearly 900 billion cubic meters of biogas can be produced annually from existing organic waste streams, enough to cover more than 20 percent of current global gas demand.
The map is built on the IEA's new BioGRAM model (Biogases Geospatial Resource Assessment Model) and combines data on available resources, fermentation infrastructure, and production costs. Users can zoom in on countries, regions, or user-drawn areas to obtain an estimate of both the production potential and development costs per resource. The tool is intended to help governments, developers, investors, and grid operators determine where projects have the greatest chance of success.
Greatest potential outside Europe
The analysis included more than thirty types of raw materials, subdivided into crop residues, animal manure, bio-waste, and woody biomass. Only residual streams that do not compete with food or animal feed production and that have no negative impact on sustainability were included. For the spatial analysis, the IEA used, among other sources, agricultural data from the FAO and OECD from 2024, population density figures from WorldPop, forest data from the World Resources Institute, and wastewater treatment data from HydroWaste.
More than 70 percent of global potential is located in emerging and developing countries, with India, Brazil, and China as the largest players. The United States also has significant potential, the largest among established economies.
Europe leads the way in utilization
For the time being, only a small portion of that global potential is actually being used. The European Union stands head and shoulders above the rest: the region utilizes an estimated 40 percent of its own sustainable potential, compared to less than 5 percent in India. In 2025, the EU produced nearly 20 billion cubic meters of biogas and biomethane, measured in natural gas equivalent. According to the IEA, this prevented approximately 6 billion dollars in fossil fuel imports.
Current global biogas production stands at around 1,7 exajoules per year. The IEA considers a quadrupling to nearly 6 exajoules by 2035 feasible, in line with the pledge made during the COP30 climate summit in Belém to quadruple sustainable biogas production worldwide. According to the IEA, growing interest in renewable natural gas, driven by policies aimed at domestic energy production, methane reduction, and waste processing, points to further growth of the sector.
Source: iea.org
