NEWS RELEASE
November 1, 2018
Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas Eclipses 150-Member Milestone
The seven-year-old biomethane trade association adds more than 20 members per year, on average, mirroring annual growth in Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) supply and demand
Sacramento, CA - With the addition of eight new members in September and October, the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) – the trade association representing the North American renewable natural gas (RNG, Biomethane or upgraded Biogas) industry – now represents more than 150 member companies and organizations.
The RNG Coalition began in July 2011 with seven members. At the time there were just 31 operating RNG projects in North America. Today, there are 85 production facilities, with dozens more under construction or development.
“Through effectively coalescing the renewable natural gas industry in North America, we have created a credible advocacy voice that is globally respected, and achieved state and federal policies that recognize the environmental and economic benefits of RNG," said RNG Coalition CEO and co-founder Johannes Escudero. "Working together, the RNG industry has built more production facilities in the last seven years than in the prior thirty years.”
“There is tremendous momentum in the movement to decarbonize North America’s natural gas supply through renewable natural gas,” said RNG Coalition co-founder David Cox.
For example, Smithfield Foods recently committed to a landmark investment to reduce greenhouse gases from agriculture waste by converting existing manure lagoons to covered digesters and upgrading the resulting biogas to RNG, a move praised by the Environmental Defense Fund.
The eight new members represent the broad value-chain of the RNG industry. They include engineering and consulting firm Bartlett & West, law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, Northeast Gas Association, and WGL.
“WGL is excited to work with the RNG Coalition and participate in the expanding growth of renewable natural gas to meet our corporate sustainability goals and respond to the increasing demand to reduce carbon emissions,” said Adrian Chapman, President and Chief Executive Officer of WGL and Washington Gas. “We are excited to pursue RNG opportunities in our DC-area service territory through Washington Gas and nationally through WGL Energy. We welcome the economic and environmental benefits that RNG brings as part of our clean energy future.”
Significant growth in RNG production and adoption has attracted international technology providers and manufacturers. New members include German-based EnviTec Biogas, Portuguese company SysAdvance, and publicly-traded multinational company Ingevity.
"We are honored to be part of the RNG Coalition," said Ed Woodcock, president of Ingevity's Performance Materials business. "We look forward to helping achieve the organization's mission as we partner with renewable natural gas industry companies.”
Nonprofit New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition (NJCCC) rounds out the new members, joining the nearly 20 U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored Clean Cities organizations across the country that partner with the RNG Coalition to help provide local education on RNG as a transportation fuel solution for fleets to lower greenhouse gas and carbon emissions while benefitting economically.
“The combination of ‘near-zero NOx’ emission compressed natural gas engines with greenhouse gas reducing renewable natural gas presents an emissions profile for heavy-duty vehicles that is simply unmatched,” said Chuck Feinberg, Chairman of NJCCC. “This solution is a cost effective, technically proven commercial option that is currently widely available. RNG is something that every fleet needs to take a hard look at now.”
About the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas
The RNG Coalition is the trade association that provides public policy advocacy and education for the Renewable Natural Gas (RNG, Biomethane or upgraded Biogas) industry in North America, advocating for the increased development, deployment and utilization of renewable natural gas, including as an ultra-clean, domestically produced, alternative fuel and energy resource. The RNG industry captures methane (raw biogas) that would otherwise escape fugitively into the atmosphere or be flared (wasted) from organic waste streams such as landfills, wastewater treatment facilities, livestock and agricultural digesters, and commercial food waste facilities, and converts that biogas into RNG. RNG is fully fungible with conventional natural gas, and is used as a direct substitute for most commercial, industrial and residential natural gas applications. Learn more at RNGCoalition.com.
Media Contact:
Marcus Gillette
Marcus@RNGCoalition.com
916-588-3033, ext. 3