7 Things to Know About Renewable Natural Gas

To minimize any risk of projects doing more harm than good, renewable natural gas should be evaluated case by case. Important questions to ask include:
- Does the production of renewable natural gas capture methane emissions that would otherwise have been emitted into the atmosphere?
- Does RNG production solve waste management problems, or yield co-benefits alongside emissions benefits?
- What are competing uses or management practices for the waste streams used, and does renewable natural gas complement solutions such as composting, animal feed or soil fertilizer?
- Does the project avoid building new fossil fuel-based infrastructure?
To address these questions, WRI's paper (https://www.wri.org/publication/renewable-natural-gas-guidance) walks readers through common approaches, evaluation metrics and considerations by feedstock that they can use to conduct a local assessment.