In 2022 Gasum delivered 1.7 TWh of biogas to its customers for a saving of 444,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Gasum sets new ambitious goals with sustainability as an integral part of the company’s new strategy.

Nordic energy company Gasum launched a new strategy for the next five years in 2022. In practice, Gasum aims to shift the emphasis of its business and operations more towards renewable gas and electricity.

As part of this shift, Gasum has set a new ambitious goal of bringing seven terawatt hours (TWh) worth of renewable gas annually to the Nordic market by the year 2027. This means significant investments in increasing Gasum’s own biogas production as well as sourcing more renewable gas from trusted partners.

Gasum currently produces biogas in 17 plants in Finland and Sweden from different waste streams such as sewage sludge, manure and biowaste. The carbon dioxide emissions reduction of using biogas compared to fossil fuel use is on average as high as 90 percent. Using manure for biogas production can even have a carbon negative impact, meaning an emissions reduction of more than 100 percent.

Increasing availability significantly

Finland, Sweden and Norway together currently produce about 4 TWh of biogas per year. Denmark is the largest biogas producer of the Nordic region with around 8 TWh produced annually.

The increase in Gasum’s supply alone to 7 TWh at the Nordic level means a significant increase in availability. Using 7 TWh of renewable gas instead of fossil fuels would also mean a cumulative yearly reduction of 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide.

“There is still much to do to decarbonize land and sea transportation as well as industrial processes. Increasing biogas availability in these segments is a way of reducing emissions sooner rather than later. The switch to biogas can happen almost at the snap of your fingers, because biogas is fully interchangeable with natural gas wherever it is currently used”, says Mika Wiljanen, CEO of Gasum Group.

First of five big biogas plants on the way

In 2022 Gasum delivered 1.7 TWh of biogas to its customers which totals a 444,000 ton carbon dioxide emissions saving for the year. That means there is some road ahead to reach a yearly amount of 7 TWh of renewable gas and 1.8 million tons emission savings, but Mika Wiljanen is confident that the goal is reachable.

“For example, we’ve just started construction on the first of five large biogas plants we’re planning to construct in Sweden. The Götene plant, which will be constructed during 2023–2024, will produce 120 GWh of biogas per year. Multiply that by five and you go a long way to reaching that goal by 2027. But we do have a few other plans up our sleeves as well”, Wiljanen ensures.

In accordance with the new strategy Gasum is also investing in improving its capabilities in the renewable electricity market, to offer its customers a full energy and emissions management service. In 2022 Gasum traded 7.3 TWh worth of Guarantees of Origin for renewable electricity generated by wind, hydro, solar power or bioenergy, an increase of nearly 18% year on year.

Emission reductions and sustainable business in general is at the core of Gasum’s new strategy. Sustainability for Gasum means striving for continuously reducing emissions for customers and keeping the company’s own emissions to a minimum. For example, Gasum uses only renewable electricity in its own operations.

Gasum has committed to the UN Global Compact initiative on corporate sustainability and reports on sustainability in accordance with the GRI Standards. Gasum just released its 2022 sustainability report at the end of March.