European Union joins M2M

Invalid Date

BY Marc Hequet

Web exclusive posted March 11, 2008 at 2:06 p.m. CST

The European Union's collective biomass expertise will bolster an international partnership's efforts to capture and use methane from landfills, animal waste, coal mines, oil and gas operations, and other sources.

On March 4, the EU, which consists of 27 nations, joined the international Methane-to-Marketing Partnership, a move that more than doubled the number of nations representing the group.

The expanded membership will help M2M implement 91 methane-capture projects that it showcased at a trade show in Beijing last year, said Paul Gunning, chief of the U.S. EPA's non-carbon-dioxide programs. The United States is also an M2M member.

The EU "represents so many governments that have expertise and resources in this area," Gunning told Biomass Magazine. "The broader the engagement we have from the global community, the more the partnership will benefit."

Prior to the EU's addition, M2M member nations represented 60 percent of the waste-methane sources that the group targets, according to the M2M Web site.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs formalized the union's participation during a visit to Washington, D.C., calling the partnership "an important initiative in reducing methane emissions and thereby helping to combat global warming."

M2M was launched in 2004 in Washington, D.C., by 14 national governments that signed on as partners. Before the EU joined M2M, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom were already members.

For more information, visit www.methanetomarkets.org.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Upcoming Events

Sign up for our e-newsletter!

Advertisement

Advertisement