Brussels, 12th of April. Today the Biomethane Industrial Partnership releases an accompanying factsheet to the Task Force 2’s report “Accelerating Biomethane Permitting”, providing a comprehensive overview of the report’s key findings on how to accelerate biomethane permitting procedures across the EU.
The release of the factsheet accompanying the Task Force 2’s report on “Accelerating Biomethane Permitting” offers actionable insights aimed at accelerating biomethane permitting. It serves as a condensed yet comprehensive overview of the report’s key findings, including current permitting procedures across Member States, common obstacles identified and best practices for streamlining processes.
While permitting procedures may vary among Member States, they generally can be clustered into three steps, each connected to specific obstacles: excessive documentation, lack of clarity in the procedure, authorities’ knowledge gap, limited human resources, personal relationships impacting the process and lack of local support.
Best practices have been identified to overcome challenges encountered in each step of the permitting procedure. These include implementing a zoning approach, introducing a rebuttable presumption that sustainable biomethane projects serve overriding public interest, establishing a one-stop-shop for permitting, facilitate close collaboration with local communities, introduce time limit implications, conducting training sessions and ensuring clear communication, guidelines and standard operating procedures.
As identified by Task Force 2 building on the analysis of existing best practices and main obstacles, the factsheet provides an overview of the essential elements of an ‘ideal’ standard permitting procedure. A standardised permitting procedure can drastically reduce risks and costs for project developers. It also facilitates harmonisation of varied procedures across EU Member States.
