Romania’s biomethane pledge: a renewed commitment with funding terms still undefined

Romania’s proposed government programme promises to establish support schemes for domestically produced biofuels, biogas and biomethane during its first year in office.

The commitment is now verifiable in an official parliamentary record: the Senate published the programme submitted by prime-minister-designate Luca-Alexandru Niculescu on 15 October 2026. Implementation of the commitment will require subsequent measures defining the funding arrangements, eligibility criteria and terms of support. [1] [2]

Romania already had electricity support covering biogas, national biomethane targets and legislation enabling future biomethane investment aid. A similar first-year commitment also appeared in an earlier proposed government programme.

The October announcement renews that policy direction; the unresolved issue is its implementation.

The relevant provision appears in energy measure M5, page 54, of the official programme published by the Senate. [2]

“In the first year of our term, we will establish support schemes for biofuels, biogas and biomethane produced in Romania.”

The undertaking is explicit about the products and intended timing, but leaves the support mechanism open.

There is also a complementary proposal in the environment chapter, measure M3, page 70: a bio-waste management law intended to enable conversion into natural fertilisers and biomethane, alongside stronger separate collection and traceability. That could affect access to waste feedstocks, but the programme does not translate it into plant-level eligibility or funding terms. [2]

Earlier support rewarded electricity generated from biogas

Romania’s Law 220/2008 included biogas within its renewable-electricity green-certificate system.

Certificates
Two per MWh of qualifying biogas electricity, with an additional certificate for qualifying high-efficiency cogeneration
Support period
15 years for new generating installations, subject to the scheme’s conditions
Entry cutoff
Commissioning by the end of 2016; the cutoff did not immediately terminate support for previously accredited plants
The distinction: those certificates rewarded electricity output. They did not establish a payment per MWh of biomethane sold into the gas market. A biomethane scheme therefore needs its own rules for the supported product, including how conversion of an existing electricity-producing biogas plant would be treated.

The 2024 energy plan already envisaged biomethane in the gas network

Romania’s October 2024 updated National Energy and Climate Plan envisaged introducing biomethane into the national gas transmission network, subject to relevant legislation and technical conditions. [3]

Target · 2030
5%
Target · 2050
10%

These were planning objectives, rather than an immediately enforceable purchasing obligation on gas suppliers.

The plan’s dedicated P&M 30 measure, page 133, listed possible financing sources, including agricultural funding, the recovery plan, the Modernisation Fund, the state budget and private capital. However, its budget field contained no numerical allocation.

A more concrete predecessor is Emergency Ordinance 9 of 27 February 2026, which amended the electricity and gas law. It strengthened biomethane licensing, producer obligations and arrangements for injection into gas networks.

The amended Article 151 of Law 123/2012 provides for ministry-established support schemes covering biomethane production projects, including their approved connection arrangements, subject to national and EU state-aid rules. It also establishes two material conditions: [4]

including works required by the approved connection solution. to satisfy the incentive-effect requirement.

The provision identifies external grant and repayable financing, but does not itself set a project allocation or subsidy rate.

Romania’s investment scheme approved under Ministerial Order 1,637 of 13 November 2024 supports advanced biofuels. Article 3(e) defines the covered biofuels as liquid transport fuels produced from biomass. This limits the scheme’s product scope and provides no basis for treating it as support for biogas or biomethane production. [5]

The October government programme’s commitment to support biogas and biomethane consequently requires implementing measures that explicitly cover those products, define eligible projects and allocate funding. The existing liquid-biofuel scheme does not fulfil that commitment.

As of 16 October 2026, the proposed cabinet remained in the investiture process. Three decisions would determine the pledge’s practical value:

Investment aid reduces construction costs; operating support changes revenues after commissioning. Developers cannot infer a guaranteed gas price from a promise to establish support schemes. The rules need to address new plants, upgrades of existing biogas facilities, qualifying feedstocks and coverage of injection and connection expenditure. A quantified allocation, the applicable state-aid route, selection rules and an application timetable are needed before a project can assess whether — and on what terms — it could receive support.