Mr. Bill Callanan:

To be clear, anaerobic digestion is an energy-driven policy. The Department does not have responsibility in respect of that matter. We have a group looking at how we can encourage development in that area. To be clear, we are very supportive of the development of an anaerobic digestion industry. The messages we are hearing from industries, particularly gas-based industries, is that they have an appetite for biomethane and displacement. Why? It is quite clear that if we look at our international offering in terms of food, we are at the upper end when it comes to sustainability, but there is a demand for us to go higher.

It is very clear. It is expected that biomethane can play a role in respect of the likes of food processing, which relies a lot on heat etc.

In respect of an emission reduction factor for agriculture, it does help but it is not as significant as people might anticipate because if your feedstock such as slurry is going in, you are removing the emissions associated with that, which is not a bigger part. A substantial amount of that contribution comes from displacement of livestock where you are generating a feedstock to go into an anaerobic digester, rather than just the manures. The manures do contribute but the bigger portion involves that displacement.