ENGIE has signed a 10-year biomethane purchase agreement with PepsiCo UK, marking the first such deal in the UK food and drink industry and backing a new £70 million anaerobic digestion plant in the north of England.
The agreement, which begins in 2027, will see 60 GWh of biomethane generated annually via a mass balance approach to help decarbonise PepsiCo UK’s supply chain, equivalent to the gas consumption of 5,000 homes. The move is expected to reduce PepsiCo UK’s emissions by over 10,900 tonnes per year.
The deal represents PepsiCo’s first biomethane purchase agreement across EMEA and will see ENGIE expand its UK portfolio of biomethane plants, currently comprising four operational anaerobic digestion facilities in the south-west of England that inject over 210 GWh of biomethane per year into the gas network.
Miya Paolucci, ENGIE UK chief executive, said the company was a global leader in power and gas purchase agreements, with unique ability to leverage its integrated portfolio and deliver customer requirements. “We’re proud advocates of biomethane and are actively investing in projects which drive the energy transition, decarbonise our customers and support the move to clean energy,” she said.
Sian Hamson, sustainability senior manager at PepsiCo UK, said reducing greenhouse gas emissions remained a key priority within UK operations as part of the company’s PepsiCo Positive ambitions. “As a low carbon, domestically produced energy source, biomethane will be a key lever in our broader decarbonisation strategy and we’re proud to be partnering with ENGIE as they build this facility and drive additional biogas into the UK network,” she said.
Lord Whitehead, minister for energy security and net zero, said the £70 million investment in clean energy would drive growth across the north of England. “Biomethane production and partnerships between companies such as ENGIE and PepsiCo show that industry is backing this government’s mission for clean, homegrown energy,” he said.
ENGIE’s anaerobic digestion plants are fed by locally sourced, sustainable feedstock from agricultural waste and rotational crops. The company works in partnership with farmers to offer them a regular source of income and provides them with digestate, a rich organic soil enhancer that is a natural byproduct of the anaerobic digestion process.
ENGIE already owns and operates 42 biomethane production sites with total capacity over 1.2 TWh per year across Europe, where it has ambitions to produce 10 TWh, and supplies over 7 TWh of green gas solutions to its customers with an ambition to increase this to 30 TWh by 2030. In the UK, the expansion plan includes multiple new biomethane greenfield developments and new infrastructure at existing sites.
ENGIE signs 10-year biomethane deal with PepsiCo UK
