Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Swedish Biogas Sector

Abstract

With a growing population, the world requires solutions that provide energy, waste management, transportation, and nutrient recovery in a sustainable manner. Biogas is a local system solution that can fill these needs and make society more self-sufficient. In an increasingly uncertain world, forthcoming crises and external economic pressure will affect industries, including biogas, and lead to higher risk. To manage these uncertainties and to create resilience, knowledge needs to be gathered on how industries providing system solution, such as the biogas industry, are affected by crises. The Covid-19 pandemic offers the possibility to analyse the effects of a global crisis in real-time. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects the covid-19 pandemic had on the production, distribution, and demand of biogas in Sweden. Ten semi-structured interviews were carried out with different actors in the biogas value chain. Some key findings in the result include continued availability of substrate for biogas production but with a changed composition, increased demand for biofertilizer and small-scale production of biogas, and disturbances in biogas related policies. The underlying factors contributing to these effects can be attributed to pandemic related restrictions, disturbances in logistical chains, increased energy prices and political factors. The lessons learned are that the biogas industry should try to be decoupled from policies and review the resilience of the supply chains. If this is managed, biogas is a way forward for providing waste management, transportation fuel and nutrient recovery while facilitating the transition towards self-sufficient and sustainable societies with resilience against global crises.