The objective of BIOSURF (BIOmethane as SUstainable and Renewable Fuel) is to increase the production and use of biomethane (from animal waste, other waste materials and sustainable biomass), for grid injection and as transport fuel, by removing non-technical barriers and by paving the way towards a European biomethane market.

This objective will be achieved through the following founding pillars:

• National biomethane registries
• Cooperation among the national biomethane registries
• European mass-balancing system for biomethane
• Free Market Biomethane Trade
• Sustainable raw material supply
• Methodology for entitlement to CO2 certificates
• Regional specificities
• Networking and Cooperation
• Transferability of results beyond the project’s countries.

BIOSURF relates, within the Work Program 2014-2015 on Secure, clean and efficient energy, to the Call COMPETITIVE LOW-CARBON ENERGY, namely the topic LCE 14 – 2014/2015: Market uptake of existing and emerging sustainable bioenergy.

The qualifying ideas of BIOSURF are:

• To develop a value chain analysis from production to use depending on the territorial, physical and economic features (specified for different areas, i.e., biofuel for transport, electricity generation, heating & cooling);
• To analyse, compare and promote biomethane registering, labelling, certification and trade practices in Europe, in order to favour cooperation among the different countries and cross border markets on the basis of the partner countries involved;
• To address traceability, environmental criteria and quality standards, so aiming to reduce GHG emissions and indirect land-use change (ILUC), to preserve biodiversity and to assess the energy and CO2 balance; to identify the most prominent drivers for CO2-emissions along the value chain as an input for future optimization approaches;
• To exchange information and best practices all along Europe concerning biomethane policy, regulations, support schemes and technical standards.