A major boost to the UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) & biogas industry is expected to follow M&S’s decision in early September to purchase 35,000 megawatt hours (Mwh) of biomethane certificates.
The deal, with Doncaster based AD plant developer Future Biogas, provides a quantity of energy equivalent to that required to heat 15 M&S Simply Food stores all year round, according to the retailer. It could also save around 6,400 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
Gio Patellaro, M&S head of energy supply & risk, said: “Over the past couple of years, M&S has worked tirelessly to improve its carbon efficiency and innovate in sustainability. As the first UK retailer to buy biomethane to use in this way, we are blazing a trail in the market place that we hope others will follow. With the help of Future Biogas, this deal takes us one step further in our commitment to ensure 50 per cent of the energy used in M&S buildings comes from certified green biomethane sources by 2020.”
The retailer has joined up with the biomethane certification scheme run by Green Gas Trading, an independent scheme with backing from much of the UK AD sector, and which is intended to provide businesses with the opportunity to purchase green gas with a high degree of confidence that the gas they are using is being matched by biomethane coming onto the grid.
“We are delighted to welcome M&S as the first FTSE100 buyer to the Biomethane Certification Scheme (BMCS) and are particularly pleased that M&S has also chosen to become a member of Green Gas Trading, indicating their intention to become a long term user of BMCs,” said Grant Ashton, chief executive of Green Gas Trading. “The BMCS methodology certificates the embedded carbon in the biomethane production process and is key to the acceptance of biomethane certificates as an offset for carbon reporting purposes.
