This project undertaken as part of the Future Fuels CRC, sought to support the development of new biomethane markets and an associated biomethane industry in Australia. It examined the policy mechanisms and initiatives that were employed in a number of international jurisdictions with more mature biomethane industries. It also provided an evaluation of the existing policy and regulatory landscape in Australia across the biomethane value chain, to identify gaps, barriers, and opportunities and potential policy mixes that could be applied to the Australian context.
Outcomes & Impact
Three core outcomes were sought via this research project:
- A comprehensive assessment of the current policy and regulatory regime across the biomethane value chain in Australia to identify existing gaps, barriers and opportunities;
- Actionable lessons from international case studies via the identification of suitable policy options and assessment of whether these could be transferred to the Australian context; and
- Via use of a systems-guided and theoretically-informed approach that draws on both sustainability transitions theory and the Transformative Innovation Policy framework, the project went beyond the common focus on single policy mechanisms to develop an understanding of how market, regulatory, social and institutional instruments and arrangements interact to enable or impede new technologies to scale.
Research Team
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Dr Jennifer Yarnold, CPF, UQ
Dr Hamish MacDonald, UQ
Other partners included: AGIG, Jemena, APA Group, ENA, NSW Department of Climate Change Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).