Mr. Donal Dennehy:

I am the industrial director for Danone Ireland. Danone is the largest dairy group in the world, with more than 100,000 employees, 1,000 of whom are located in Ireland. We have two large manufacturing plants in Ireland at which we produce infant formula. Danone has a stated goal of "One planet. One health", and it drives all of its employees towards that goal, which means decarbonising our plants. We cannot do that without using biomethane and that is why I am here. On behalf of RGFI, we thank the Chairman and the members for inviting us to address the committee.

RGFI is a not-for-profit forum representing those with an interest in an indigenous Irish biomethane industry, including farm organisations, community groups, Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, and end users for renewable gas. We are asking the committee to consider renewable gas as part of the renewable energy mix. RGFI fully supports the Government's long-term climate ambitions. We believe that with smart, evidence-based policies, the transition can be positive for Ireland. This requires significant private and public investment, however, and the deployment of appropriate new and innovative renewable technologies.

We acknowledge the commitment to reviewing the potential of anaerobic digestion to supply biomethane in the draft national climate action plan, NCAP. We are concerned, however, at the figures used in the marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, analysis in the plan. We believe those figures are wrong and that is key to our presentation. The MACC estimates biomethane at a cost of €377 per tonne of CO2 abatement, whereas we estimate it, with proof, at some €78 to €150 per tonne of CO2 abatement and this is in line with other jurisdictions.

In October, RGFI submitted a business case for biomethane in Ireland to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. This KPMG report shows an overall positive 1.26 cost-benefit ratio through to 2050 for producing biomethane from agricultural organic matter. Specifically, by replacing 12% of current natural gas consumption with biomethane, Ireland can save 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year, supporting our decarbonisation targets and creating more than 3,000 jobs for rural Ireland by 2030.

In the replacement of gas, biomethane is the lowest cost solution. In order to realise this vision, we will need: Government policy and legislative support for biomethane, agricommunity-led anaerobic digester, AD, plants; a number of large food and commercial waste plants; and a capital investment of €1.5 billion, supported by industry. The proposed deployment and ramp up is in line with Northern Ireland, where 60 AD plants were built in the first five years of the industry being developed.

RGFI represents some of Ireland's largest energy users, including my company, Danone, Dairygold, Diageo, Pernod Rickard, Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth Nutritionals. Biomethane is the only viable and available alternative solution for many of our businesses to decarbonise our processes without impacting on overall operations. As users of natural gas, we can make an immediate switch to biomethane, which would deliver our environmental and climate benefit targets at lowest cost and with least disruption. We are willing to play our part in this transition. However, having the right policy conditions to support a scalable, renewable biomethane gas industry is essential if we are to remain competitive and in order to sustain economic growth.

Ireland has sufficient capacity to produce the required agricultural feedstocks without impacting on the livestock industry. Scaleable AD will provide certainty of demand for many farmers, with capacity to produce more grass for both animal feed and the new AD market. That will increase farm incomes significantly, bring about improvements in farm practices and further support the global reputation of Irish food exports.

As the Government finalises the national climate energy plan, we ask the committee to support a target of 12% for the replacement of current natural gas consumption with renewable biomethane; that biomethane would be included in the plan and in the Government's submission to the EU Commission, and funding support for the sector. Failure to support an indigenous biomethane industry, at the appropriate scale, will lead to a missed opportunity for the decarbonisation of agriculture, as well as higher energy costs for industry, a weakening of national energy security, and reduced competitiveness for the processing and manufacturing sectors. I thank members for their attention.