The objective of BIOSURF (BIOmethane as SUstainable and Renewable Fuel) is to increase the production and use of biomethane (from animal waste, other waste materials and sustainable biomass), for grid injection and as transport fuel, by removing non-technical barriers and by paving the way towards a European biomethane market. This objective will be achieved through the following founding pillars: - National biomethane registries - Cooperation among the national biomethane registries - European mass-balancing system for biomethane - Free Market Biomethane Trade - Sustainable raw material supply - Methodology for entitlement to CO2 certificates - Regional specificities - Networking and Cooperation - Transferability of results beyond the project’s countries. BIOSURF relates, within the Work Program 2014-2015 on Secure, clean and efficient energy, to the Call COMPETITIVE LOW-CARBON ENERGY, namely the topic LCE 14 – 2014/2015: Market uptake of existing and emerging sustainable bioenergy. The qualifying ideas of BIOSURF are: • To develop a value chain analysis from production to use depending on the territorial, physical and economic features (specified for different areas, i.e., biofuel for transport, electricity generation, heating & cooling); • To analyse, compare and promote biomethane registering, labelling, certification and trade practices in Europe, in order to favour cooperation among the different countries and cross border markets on the basis of the partner countries involved; • To address traceability, environmental criteria and quality standards, so aiming to reduce GHG emissions and indirect land-use change (ILUC), to preserve biodiversity and to assess the energy and CO2 balance; to identify the most prominent drivers for CO2-emissions along the value chain as an input for future optimization approaches; • To exchange information and best practices all along Europe concerning biomethane policy, regulations, support schemes and technical standards.

The overall objective of the project is to support the European biogas/biomethane industry by preparing markets for the export of sustainable biogas/biomethane technologies from Europe to developing and emerging countries. This will be achieved by the development and application of innovative digital and non-digital support tools and actions, by knowledge transfer and capacity building as well as by the preparation of demo cases up to the investment stage. This will increase the share of renewable energies, both in Europe and in importing countries. More specifically, the DiBiCoo proposal aims to support the European biogas industry in diversifying its sales market and therefore increasing the deployment of biogas technologies in emerging markets across Latin America, Africa and south east Asia, helping mitigate GHG emissions and increasing the share of global renewable energy generation. The project aims to synthesise and develop country-specific technologies and solutions in the import markets. The target countries (importing countries) selected for the DiBiCoo proposal are Argentina, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, and South Africa. These countries have been selected because of the high market potential for biogas projects in the country, along with favourable regulatory environment and support schemes in each of these countries. The already existing cooperation between some of the consortium members in these countries is seen as an additional asset for the successful implementation of the DiBiCoo project. All target countries lack capacities for optimal deployment of biogas technologies from domestic sources. The potential for the common learning and the sharing of knowledge and experience between actors in these countries and in the EU is very high, which can be triggered and facilitated by the project partners based on their joint networks, knowhow and experience.