Launch of the Brazilian National Zero Methane Program
The Ministries of Mines and Energy (MME) and the Environment (MMA) launched, on March 21, 2022, the Brazilian National Zero Methane Program, which provides for measures to encourage the production and sustainable use of biomethane, a gaseous biofuel obtained from the processing of biogas. The initiative meets the commitments made by Brazil in the Global Methane Agreement signed last year at COP-26, in Glasgow.
One of the signed measures includes investments in biomethane in the Special Incentive Scheme for Infrastructure Development (Reidi). Projects included in this regime are exempt from PIS and COFINS taxes for the acquisition or lease of machinery/equipment, acquisition of construction materials and provision of services, for application in infrastructure works destined for the beneficiary's fixed assets.
The inclusion will contribute to the construction of new plants to produce biomethane in the country, increasing the supply of the product and the installation of green corridors for the supply of heavy vehicles, with impacts on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the MME. In addition, the Program seeks to promote national and international cooperation for financing, training, development, transfer and dissemination of technologies and processes for the implementation of actions to reduce methane emissions.
The Program also provides specific lines of credit and financing for public and private financial agents for the development of actions and activities, which include:
- establishment of biodigesters;
- implementation of a biogas purification system, production and compression of biomethane;
- creation of green points and corridors to supply heavy vehicles powered by biomethane, such as buses, trucks and agricultural machineries, contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases and to the improvement of air quality;
- implementation of technologies that allow the use of sustainable fuels and of low greenhouse gases emissions intensity in internal combustion engines of the Otto cycle or diesel, in compliance with the norms established by competent bodies;
- leveraging the use or development of vehicle technology;
- tax exemption for infrastructure related to biogas and biomethane projects.
We emphasize that biomethane has properties equivalent to methane, and both its injection into existing gas pipeline networks without any adaptation and its use in the generation of low carbon hydrogen are possible, through the reform of methane steam, the main method of hydrogen production.
The Program is expected to encourage the development of small and large rural and urban energy recovery projects, allowing rural producers and landfill managers to become suppliers of fuel and renewable energy.
The Environmental team is available in case of doubts.