Last week we were at Biogas Americas 2025, the annual conference of the American Biogas Council (ABC). Based on our experience the event lived up to the claim it is the largest biogas conference and tradeshow in North America. Over 2,200 people from the global biogas industry descended on Denver to learn, network, and display their wares for two days.

Although we started out as an oil & gas digital marketing agency, over the years several clients discovered that their technologies originally developed for oil and natural gas production have applications in biogas-to-RNG. As it turns out, Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) must meet the same pipeline specifications as geologic gas produced from traditional oil and gas wells (aka “fossil gas” as it’s known in the biogas world).

RNG, whether it is sourced from decomposing agricultural material (e.g., manure) or a landfill of man-made waste, biogas contains various contaminants that must be removed before it can be sold to a pipeline. Removing nitrogen, oxygen, and water is routine in fossil gas production, providing an opportunity for oil and gas solutions providers to find new markets in biogas.

Here are some of our takeaways from Biogas Americas 2025:

Agricultural methane emissions are significant, and so is the opportunity. Researchers at the University of California Davis estimate that livestock are responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. McKinsey reported that the five industries, which together account for 98 percent of humanity’s methane emissions, are agriculture, oil and gas, coal mining, solid-waste management, and wastewater management. Agriculture is responsible for more methane emissions than the oil and gas industry, making biogas a critical factor in reducing overall methane emissions. Of course, those copious agricultural emissions represent a significant market opportunity for upgrading raw biogas to RNG.

The biogas industry is in its early days. The biogas industry literally turns poop into gold. There, we said what we knew you were thinking, and we all feel better about admitting it. The American Biogas Council (ABC) estimates that currently only 14.7% of the known biogas market potential has been developed. That’s saying a lot, because roughly $3 billion in capital was invested in the biogas industry in 2024 alone, 8.7% higher than the previous year.

Off take focus. Several keynote speakers mentioned that up to this point, most biogas opportunities have been one-offs by corporations seeking to reduce their emissions footprint, typically dedicated to one facility or company. Longer term, biogas operators will benefit greatly from developing dedicated off take supply agreements, which could come from traditional utilities or large corporate users seeking to reduce their emissions footprints (think Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions). Off take opportunities include transportation markets for CNG and RNG powered vehicles for corporate fleets and maritime fuels. Dedicated off take markets would provide biogas operators with greater long-term visibility, stronger financial stability, and improved investor returns.

Taxing matters. Every exhibitor we spoke with at the conference agreed that if it weren’t for tax incentives, this event would not be happening. The only way biogas operators can sell methane molecules as RNG for 10-12 times more than fossil gas is due to federal and certain state tax incentives. When we pressed, most could not tell us exactly which laws, policies, or incentives were driving it, which we found a bit disconcerting. Fortunately, we did find some answers and plan on covering this topic in a future article.

How worried are biogas leaders about the policy environment? “Policy drives everything in the low carbon business,” commented Siva Ariyapadi, Global Business Manager, Bioenergy, ExxonMobil during the keynote panel discussion. If federal and state regulatory policies are driving the biogas industry, then we assumed that most people would be having some anxiety over what the new Trump administration might do or not do in a Drill Baby Drill world. On a scale of 1-to-10, Sean Wine, VP, Renewables Distribution, Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE) said his level of concern about policy was “…about a four…” attributing his more positive outlook as “…you have to have a longer-term view…at least 5-10 years.” Wine further elaborated “We are bipartisan, we have a product that works whether you’re in a red state or a blue state. I think that everybody in the administration and everybody in Congress is seeing that and understands that, and that gives me a lot of confidence in our industry to grow.”

Circular economics. The circular economy concept envisions an industrial symbiosis where the byproducts and waste streams of one industry become the inputs to other industries. As it turns out, one of the significant byproducts of biogas upgrading – Carbon Dioxide (CO2) – has become a valuable commodity that is boosting the economics of biogas projects. During the keynote, Cecilie Sørensen, Commercial Manager, North America, Ammongas, noted that “…no one talked about CO2 five years ago…the value of CO2 now gives value to the biogas plant,” noting that selling the CO2 generated from the RNG upgrading process creates an additional revenue stream that is driving the economics of biogas projects. CO2 is used in various industrial processes, including creating e-methanol for fuels and energy. Sorensen noted that Ammongas inked a 15-year fuel supply agreement with Maersk and a long-term agreement with Lego to use e-methanol in plastic production. This Christmas you can proudly tell your kids that their Lego sets were produced with all-natural e-methanol produced from biogas.

Despite the significant biogas market opportunity, it alone cannot shoulder the burden of the world’s growing energy needs. Humanity is expected to grow by more than two billion people by 2050 to 9.8 billion souls, which will drive the need for affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy. It is unlikely that any single energy source will be able to meet future global demand, meaning it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation for the global energy business. Whether you’re in oil and gas, biogas, nuclear or another sector, we all have a vital role to play.

About Prism Group

Prism Group is a B2B digital marketing agency focused primarily on Energy, including the Oil & Gas and Biogas sectors. We enhance companies’ reputations with high-quality content consistently published through multiple channels, strengthening Thought Leadership, building awareness, and converting interest into leads.