President of World Biogas Association, UK
By Dr. David Newman, President of World Biogas Association, UK.
In 2019 the World Biogas Association published a new report on the Global Potential of Biogas. This report showed that by harvesting readily available wastes, above all urban biowastes and agricultural by products and manures, treating them in anaerobic digestion plants to produce biogas, globally some 12% of GHG emissions could be reduced by 2030.
Moreover the report illustrated the role biogas has to play in meeting 9 of the 17 SDGs as well as promoting sustainable agricultural practices through the return of nutrients to soil.
In 2021, the WBA will publish its new report “Pathways to the 2030” in which we try to understand what measures need to be taken, now, to achieve those 2030 targets. These include policies, finances, technological developments and waste management. In this presentation I will speak about the findings of this new report and how this relates specifically to countries in the low to middle income tiers facing the double challenge of meeting ambitious targets and financing these in a world dramatically changed by the COVID pandemic.
Biography:
David Newman lived in Europe and the Middle East until 2014 when he returned to the UK.
He was the Executive Director of Greenpeace Italy 1994-1997; from 1999 until 2014 he led the Italian composting and biogas association CIC and he led the Italian Bioplastics Association from 2011 to 2015. During this time (2012-13) he was a personal advisor to the Italian Minister of Environment, Andrea Orlando.
From 2012 to 2016 he was President of the International Solid Waste Association in Vienna and initiated the 2015 Global Waste Management Outlook report written by ISWA and UNEP.
David founded and leads the Bio-Based and Biodegradable Industries Association UK since 2015 which works to promote the bioeconomy in the UK.
He is also President of the World Biogas Association since November 2016, co-author of the report Global Food Waste Management, an Implementation Guide for Cities, published in May 2018 by the WBA with C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
