Biogas production certificates: how they work, and what the 2026 decree changes

For ten years, a biomethane project was financed mainly through the feed-in tariff: a guaranteed price over fifteen years. The open window for this tariff closes at the end of 2026. For new projects, support will mainly come through a market mechanism: biogas production certificates. Here is how it works, as of 24 October 2026.

The principle: gas suppliers must hand in certificates

France's Climate and Resilience Act of August 2021 created biogas production certificates¹. The idea is simple: instead of subsidising each project, the State requires natural gas suppliers to hand in certificates every year, which they buy from biomethane producers.

• Who must comply. Natural gas suppliers that deliver more than 400 GWh a year. This threshold is set to fall gradually, until it covers all suppliers².
• How many. Each year, a coefficient is applied to the gas the supplier delivers to its residential and commercial customers. The result is the number of certificates it must hand in².
• Who generates the certificates. Producers of biomethane injected into the grid that do not receive a feed-in tariff. In principle, one certificate equals 1 MWh injected, with a reduced coefficient for some older plants. It remains valid for five years³.
• How they are traded. Through contracts negotiated between producers and suppliers, or on a trading platform², with transfers recorded in a national registry³. The same MWh cannot produce both a certificate and a guarantee of origin⁴.
• What happens if a supplier falls short. It pays €100 per missing certificate. In practice, this penalty acts as a price ceiling⁵.

A slow start, a longer horizon

The first timetable, set by a 2024 decree⁶, planned a period from 2026 to 2028, with obligations of 0.8 TWh, then 3.1 TWh, then 6.5 TWh¹. But supply did not keep up. Based on the draft decree, the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) estimated a shortfall of nearly 5 TWh of certificates over 2026 to 2029, or about a quarter of the obligation. On the trading platform, no trade took place between November 2025 and the end of August 2026, with prices offered at around €97 to €99 per certificate².

Decree no. 2026-933 of 30 September 2026, published in the Official Journal on 9 October, changes the timetable⁷:

• the first period is extended to 31 December 2029;
• it is followed by five three-year periods, up to 2044;
• the coefficients for the first years are lowered, for example 0.0355 instead of 0.0415 in 2028, and the 2044 coefficient is about four times the 2029 one⁸;
• the scheme opens up to technologies other than anaerobic digestion, such as gasification and pyrogasification⁹.

Separately, a ministerial order of 4 October 2026 affects biomethane sold under a feed-in tariff: for new contracts and amendments, the suppliers that buy it will pay 90% of the value of the guarantees of origin back to the State, instead of 75%⁷.

Sources: decree no. 2026-933; Club Biogaz ATEE, a French biogas industry body; SDES, the environment ministry's statistics office.

The background: the end of the open window

An order of 10 August 2026 lowered the threshold for access to the feed-in tariff from 25 to 13 GWh a year, and closes this window on 31 December 2026¹⁰. Contracts already signed are not affected¹¹. The government has announced a simplified tender from January 2027¹²; in early September, its specifications had not yet been published¹¹.

Demand, however, is not slowing down. As of 30 June 2026, 837 sites were injecting biomethane into the grid, for 16.2 TWh a year, and 1,357 projects were waiting their turn, for 23.4 TWh a year¹³. France's multi-year energy plan (PPE) targets 44 TWh injected in 2030¹⁴.

What this means for a project developer

Two revenue streams instead of one

With a feed-in tariff, the gas was sold at a fixed price. With certificates, the producer sells its gas at the market price on one side, and its certificates on the other. In 2023, the CRE estimated the full cost of a project at around €116 per MWh, compared with €36 for gas: this is the gap the certificate has to cover¹⁵.

A contract to negotiate

The rules do not set a contract length. Long-term deals are starting to appear: in March 2026, a supplier announced a fifteen-year biomethane purchase contract with a producer¹⁶. For a project, the length, price and volumes of this contract become the core of the financing plan.

Risks to face up to

The CRE points out several weaknesses²:

• producers still see a fifteen-year feed-in tariff contract as safer than a certificate contract;
• the coefficients can be revised, which creates a risk on the volume demanded;
• in April 2026, the European Commission opened an infringement procedure on whether the scheme is compatible with EU competition law;
• small suppliers have little access to these contracts.

For plants under a 2023 feed-in tariff contract, a door is opening: those that switch to certificates before the end of 2027, with a contract of at least five years and output at least equal to that of the original contract, can be exempted from termination fees².

Briefing up to date as of 24 October 2026. The rules change fast: check each situation with a specialist adviser before deciding.