This was explained by Torben Brabo, who has worked in the field for 30 years, during his lecture at the Biogas Solutions Research Centre Winter Conference in Linköping, November 2025. He spoke about both Denmark”s biogas history and the new challenges ahead.
”We looked a lot at Sweden when we introduced biogas into the Danish gas grid. You were ahead in production and had more biogas in the system. There was a professionalism and know-how that we could benefit from,” said Torben Brabo.
A shock to the nation
He described how the oil crisis of the 1970s hit Denmark hard.
”It shocked us. We were completely dependent on fossil fuels, mainly oil. I believe the memory of this still lingers and is the reason why we have a fairly strong consensus on energy and climate policy.”
Torben Brabo has extensive experience as CEO and board member in infrastructure companies within gas, electricity and hydrogen, primarily at Energinet, which is Denmark”s equivalent of Svenska kraftnät combined with Nordion (National grids, electricity and gas).
Between 2000 and 2009, he was a driving force in opening up the Danish natural gas grid to a free market. Since then, he has been an advocate for biogas, which has helped Denmark reach 40 per cent biomethane in its gas network.
The driving forces
”Of course, we got stuck at times. But we realised that we could draw on our experience from liberalising the market and use it when introducing biomethane.”
Denmark has large meat and dairy production, which generates a lot of manure. Managing manure was also what drove the Danish development of biogas and biomethane, which is a cleaner form containing more methane.
”In the beginning, it was about manure management. It was introduced into Danish legislation, which led to rapid development of smaller, local biogas plants. But the gas was mainly used for electricity, not vehicle fuel.”
Paris Agreement became law
Biomethane entered the Danish natural gas grid through collaboration between clusters of farm producers. Now there was the gas grid, the green gas and a commercial system. Farmers demanded certification, which led to the introduction of a certificate (2012–13).
A major change came in 2018 when the climate targets of the Paris Agreement also became enshrined in law.
”The big difference was that, through a new climate act, it became binding for the government to report and discuss each year what we had achieved. It keeps the climate targets on the agenda.”
Minister took the big step
Torben Brabo describes it as crucial when Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen went out to sectors in the business community with questions about their needs to meet the targets:
”Everyone came with a plan. We could tick off: OK, the merchant fleet … you need this and so on. Road transport, you need this. And industries needed more green gas to meet their environmental requirements. They explained that they needed biomethane. And that was accepted politically.”
This was the turning point. Now industries began contacting the government with their biogas needs. The industry took over responsibility for further developing the markets.
”It means the baby has grown up and can manage on its own. With that maturity, the leadership baton moved to other actors. Today, much of the focus is instead on achieving carbon storage targets and on whether biogas should continue with relatively simple plants or develop into larger and more advanced ones.”
He believes political consensus is still a strength.
”It gives us clarity when we go to the EU with our issues. We have many similarities with other Nordic countries and we should be talking about a common strategy” concludes Torben Brabo.
