ADBA celebrates 10th anniversary of supporting AD industry

The UK Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) has celebrated its 10^th anniversary of supporting the anaerobic digestion (AD) industry.

The organisation was set up by Lord Redesdale and 10 founding members to ‘remove barriers’ to the expansion of the AD sector and to help develop industry best practice. Within weeks of its launch, ADBA hosted its first national conference and a few months later, the first AD-specific trade show in the UK, which welcomed 65 exhibitors.

ADBA went on to support members with trade events and market reports, operational guidance publications and awards to praise industry pioneers. The organisation has also lobbied the government and worked closely with members and stakeholders to secure policy incentives and investment for the AD industry.

In her role as chief executive, Charlotte Morton has overseen ADBA facilitating a 350% growth in the sector, with around 650 plants being commissioned, a workforce increasing to between 3,000 and 4,000 people, and a capacity reaching nearly 1GW of electricity-equivalent – enough to power 1.2 million homes. According to ADBA, AD has been able to reduce UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 1% so far. It is hoped with continued policy and funding support, this figure could rise to 5%.

“Within the last decade, AD has become one of the most innovative and important industries in the UK,” said Charlotte Morton. “It has demonstrated the critical role it can play in addressing climate change and in meeting the UK’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We can be very proud of our progress, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all our members for their support and their dedication to our industry that made it possible. There is, however, a lot more that we can achieve in the next 10 years. In addition to reducing the UK GHG emissions by 5%, we could meet 30% of domestic energy demand and provide 30,000 new green jobs, largely in rural areas. We have also developed world-leading expertise which gives the UK AD industry a real opportunity to be at the heart of the growing global biogas industry.

“With the support of our members, we will continue to work to ensure the AD and biogas industry responds effectively to both UK and global challenges and takes its rightful place in the development of a sustainable circular economy.”