The search for renewable and sustainable energy sources has been a global priority, driven by the need to mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. In the context of the sugar-energy industry, biomethane emerges as a promising alternative that, however, requires a structuring public policy and effective regulation, ensuring the recognition of its attributes and the need for decarbonization of the country's key sectors, such as industry, agriculture and transportation.

Biomethane offers several advantages, being a renewable energy source produced nationally and with prices linked to the local currency. Its technology is mature to increase production in pursuit of its economic potential, which currently reaches 120 cubic millimeters per day, almost double the national consumption of natural gas in 2023. Specifically in the sugar-energy sector, the country has the potential to produce 57, 6 cubic millimeters per day, making it the sector with the greatest potential for biomethane production from straw, bagasse, filter cake and vinasse. Despite its environmental and economic potential, the biomethane market still faces significant challenges in regulation, infrastructure and the recognition of its environmental attributes.

The National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency has regulated the use of biomethane in Brazil since 2015, recognizing it as an interchangeable fuel and equivalent to natural gas. This stance was ratified by Law 14,134 of 2021, the so-called New Gas Law. Thus recognized, biomethane can use the same natural gas movement infrastructure, the same electrical generation turbines and supply the same vehicles with vehicular natural gas and natural gas. liquefied natural.

The specifications for biomethane from agroforestry and commercial organic products and waste, intended for both vehicular use and residential and commercial installations throughout the national territory, were regulated in 2015 and are today contained in the Resolution of the National Petroleum, Natural Gas Agency and Biofuels number 906, of November 18, 2022.

By establishing clear and rigorous specifications, as well as procedures for quality control approval, these measures ensure the reliability and safety of biomethane produced from different sources.

In addition to specific resolutions from the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency, progress in the regulation and promotion of biomethane in Brazil is also driven by federal laws and decrees. Of particular note is Law 13,576 of 2017, which establishes the National Biofuels Policy, known as RenovaBio. This legislation establishes targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions for the fuel sector, encouraging the production and use of biofuels, including biomethane, through Decarbonization Credits.

At the state level, the states that have biomethane legislation or that biomethane is mentioned in their regulations that deal with the injection of gas into the state distribution network are Amazonas (Resolution 003 of 2022-Cercon / Arsepam), Amapá (Law 2,656 of 2022), Ceará (Arce Resolution 16 of 2022), Espírito Santo (ARSP Resolution 65 of 2023), Goiás (Law 20,710 of 2020), Mato Grosso do Sul (Agems Ordinance 256, of December 7, 2023), Minas Gerais (Resolution 34 of 2023), Paraná (Law 205 of 2017 and Law 19,500 of 2018), Pernambuco (Law 17,641 of 2022), Rio de Janeiro (Law 6,361 of 2012), Rio Grande do Norte (Law 11,190 of 2022), Rio Grande do South (Law 15,648 of 2021), São Paulo (Arsesp Deliberation 1,342 of 2022).

However, all these legislations only raise specific questions about the regulation of biomethane, which to this day lacks a structuring public policy. In this sense, the proposal contained in the report presented by Deputy Arnaldo Jardim, rapporteur of the Future Fuel Bill, currently being processed in the National Congress, is extremely important.

It addresses two essential issues for the biomethane market: the need to separate the environmental attribute from its energy attribute and the incentive to supply and demand, for the sector to overcome its current impasse in which producers, infrastructure investors and consumers are interested in biomethane, but they are not articulated enough to reach their full production potential. On the one hand, it creates the Biomethane Certificate of Origin Guarantee, which can be sold together or separately from the methane molecule, addressing the cost of the environmental attribute to those who acquire the certificate. On the other hand, it creates a mandatory demand for biomethane, which must be purchased by natural gas producers and importers.

This stimulus to biomethane is what the natural gas market needs to achieve its goal of becoming a liquid and efficient market. Currently, the supply of natural gas is still dominated by just one agent and the inclusion of large volumes that can be produced by several agents in the biomethane sector will bring competitive prices to the sector.

Furthermore, policies are currently being studied at the federal level to stimulate green neo-industrialization, the reduction of emissions from the heavy transport sector and the national production of fertilizers. It is essential that all these policies, when bringing incentives to the sector, also consider biogas and biomethane as a source of energy and raw material.

Regarding state regulation, it is important to create a Green Supply Contract, in which the distributor offers the captive market the option of purchasing biomethane, with the value of its embedded environmental attribute, in a percentage of its choice. Other important topics are the creation of mechanisms for long-term contracts for the acquisition of biomethane, the feasibility of operational and commercial swaps between agents in the sector, flexibility in the Tariff Cycle to encourage investments in biomethane and the encouragement of the free gas market and standardization and clarity in the rules that regulate injection into the distribution pipeline network.

Today, Brazil uses only 2% of its full potential, as the country has 20 biomethane plants, 6 of which are authorized by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency and 14 self-production plants, with an installed capacity of 985 thousand cubic meters per day. To reach its full potential, it is necessary to create a structuring public policy and effective market regulation, which will bring several benefits to the sugar and alcohol sector, the country and its entire population. Without this, we will continue to live like the country of the future, which does not take advantage of all the opportunities and riches of our territory.