Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive of the Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA), has called for swift action by the new Government to overcome uncertainty and assist the AD sector in boosting the economy, creating jobs and ensuring security of energy supply.

Commenting on the result, Charlotte Morton said:

“It’s been a long, hard-fought campaign, and what is needed now is action to reassure and assist the AD sector. Now it is time to focus on the policies we need to grow our economy and meet our environmental commitments, and AD can and should play a significant part in these plans. This makes sense from an environmental and economic point of view but also in terms of security of supply - the current problems in Qatar, a key supplier for our gas imports, shows the importance of a reliable source of British green gas.”

In order to lock in the progress that this innovative industry has made over the last few years, ADBA is calling for the new Government to prioritise three key policies to support AD:

• Re-introduce the legislation on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) as soon as possible and commit to increasing the RHI budget up to the time of the following election so we can continue to produce clean, green energy and useful products like biofertiliser.
• Commit to legislation introducing separate food waste collections in England to divert waste away from landfill
• Support UK farmers by restoring viable tariffs to the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) scheme and remove the AD capacity cap.          

With the right targeted support, the Association said AD can contribute to solving many of our domestic issues, such as regional growth and jobs, while cutting carbon emissions and boosting exports abroad by over £2 billion per year.

ADBA said it will be taking these messages to the new Government as soon as all Ministers are in position.