Is Urban Anaerobic Digestion The Future? Maybe. But Policy Backing Is Crucial                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

The UK’s anaerobic digestion (AD) sector is at a critical inflection point. With regulatory drivers and new urban proposals in play, ADBA (Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association) recently called for government support that could not be more timely, and strategic investors, developers and operators should take note.

In its submission to the Chancellor, ADBA highlighted the scale of the opportunity: over £1 billion of private investment could be unlocked by providing stable long-term incentives to the AD sector, streamlining permitting, and supporting grid integration.

The UK currently boasts more than 700 operational AD plants - generating approximately 13 TWh of biogas and producing over 7 TWh of biomethane annually for grid injection.

What’s more, the sector already supports over 4,800 skilled jobs and contributes significantly to the decarbonisation of the heat and transport sectors.

As such, with the right policy framework, ADBA forecasts that UK biogas production could grow to an impressive 30 TWh by 2030 - equivalent to meeting around 10% of the UK’s domestic gas demand - while creating a further 30,000 green jobs across engineering, operations and AD supply chains.

Although anaerobic digestion facilities are traditionally found on farms and in rural areas, processing animal, arable and food waste, urban anaerobic digestion is becoming increasingly popular and well-known here in the UK; now emerging as a key opportunity within the wider sector. Compact, city-based AD facilities are being developed to:

• Meet the upcoming requirement for separate business food-waste collection (enforced from 2025/26 in England)

• Supply green gas to local grids

• Provide renewable heat and electricity to industrial users

• Support hydrogen production

Urban AD offers practical benefits - including reduced emissions and transport costs by processing waste close to source, and local energy resilience that complements intermittent renewables. These projects also help to ‘close the loop’ on organic waste recycling, producing a digestate byproduct that can be returned to land, once treated, as a nutrient-rich fertiliser.

In addition to established wet AD technologies, the first UK pilots of dry AD are also progressing - with the potential to process both food and green waste streams while maximising biomethane, electricity and fertiliser outputs.

Alongside this, it’s worth noting that the national roll-out of weekly food-waste collection across households and businesses is expected to generate an additional 4–5 million tonnes of organic waste feedstock per year - arguably creating further demand for both rural and urban AD capacity.

The ability to deliver this urban AD potential could very well depend on a supportive policy environment.

First, continued backing for the Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) beyond 2028 is essential to unlock long-term finance and secure offtake contracts. In parallel, faster planning and permitting processes are required, particularly for urban sites where complex consents and local concerns can otherwise introduce long and frustrating delays.

Grid upgrades will also play a critical role, as many city-based plants need improved connections for biomethane injection and power export.

Finally, the implementation of mandatory food-waste separation for businesses and households remains a direct enabler of feedstock availability and overall project viability.

Urban AD offers a highly pragmatic route to decarbonising heat, electricity, transport and waste - and presents clear commercial opportunities for infrastructure investors and developers.

With national food-waste policies progressing, and private capital already engaged, this is a timely moment for the UK government to signal clear backing for the AD sector.