Building an Agricultural Biogas Supply Chain in Europe: Organizational Models and Social Challenges

Philippe Hamman () and Aude Dziebowski ()
Additional contact information
Philippe Hamman: Institute for Urbanism and Regional Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France
Aude Dziebowski: Institute for Urbanism and Regional Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Strasbourg, 67000 Strasbourg, France

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-28

Abstract: As Europe is the world’s leading producer of biogas, this article examines how agricultural anaerobic digestion (AD) is organized and governed, and explores the social challenges involved in structuring the sector around a possible “European model”. Following a social science perspective, it presents a systematic review of 64 French- and English-language articles drawn from 16 academic databases. The findings highlight five key dynamics. First, there is a shift from farmer-led to increasingly industrial models of AD. Second, diverse and hybrid business models are emerging, involving new forms of multi-scale coordination. Third, the sector remains structurally dependent on public subsidies and on regulatory frameworks. Fourth, the economic viability of AD for farmers remains uncertain, driving a transition from cogeneration to biomethane injection. Fifth, tensions develop between rural place-based imaginaries and the realities of globalized energy networks. These patterns underscore the complexity of biogas sector-building in Europe and the competing narratives shaping its evolution. We argue that agricultural AD cannot be reduced to a unified trajectory, but reflects ongoing negotiations over energy models, territorial development and socio-technical legitimacy. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of these dynamics for the sustainability and fairness of future biogas trajectories across Europe.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion; farming; renewable energy; biogas; ecological transition; sustainable agriculture; rural development; viability; social sciences; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5806/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5806/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5806-:d:1686034

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().