Copenhagen kitchen waste biogas is set to play a bigger role in the capital’s town gas supply as utility company HOFOR moves closer to producing CO2-neutral bygas from local waste streams rather than fossil natural gas. The plan ties together households’ and restaurants’ organic waste, a biogas plant in Solrød, and Copenhagen’s gas grid, in a push that HOFOR frames as both a climate measure and a supply security priority.
How Copenhagen’s food waste is turned into gas
Copenhagen residents and businesses already sort organic waste, and that material can be converted into biogas through anaerobic digestion. In Solrød, Solrød Bioenergi (Bigadan) describes its facility as transforming Copenhagen’s sorted food waste into biogas that is upgraded and injected into the natural gas grid, alongside the production of organic fertiliser for agriculture. Bigadan notes the plant launched in 2023 and is designed around a circular flow between the city’s waste and energy production.
Why Copenhagen kitchen waste biogas matters for supply security
For Copenhagen, the kitchen-waste stream is not just a climate story. HOFOR has repeatedly linked a higher biogas share in bygas to reducing exposure to volatile fossil gas markets and strengthening local resilience. In a previous agreement with wastewater company BIOFOS, HOFOR said expanding local biogas in the town gas network would cut the need for fossil natural gas and reduce dependence on international gas markets.
From wastewater to kitchen waste: what bygas is made of
HOFOR’s bygas is a blended product: biogas, natural gas, and air. On its own information pages, the utility describes a long-term ambition to become self-sufficient with locally produced biogas made from Copenhagen’s wastewater sludge and food waste, while gradually displacing fossil gas.
The town gas system remains significant in the capital. HOFOR says it supplies more than 200,000 customers and that about 85% of the volume goes to business and industrial users, including high-temperature processes. In a 2024 update, HOFOR said it expects the bygas it delivers to become 100% CO2-neutral in 2025, reflecting the scale-up of biogas projects and demand from larger customers.
Sorting is the bottleneck in the circular model
The bygas strategy depends on how much organic waste is actually collected. Copenhagen Municipality has warned that residents sort only a limited share of their food waste and that progress has stagnated compared with political targets, meaning the city is leaving biogas potential on the table.
That gap matters for both climate policy and the economics of biogas. More consistent sorting improves feedstock quality and predictability—two conditions biogas operators often cite as crucial for stable output and grid injection.
Denmark and the EU are betting on biomethane in existing gas grids
Copenhagen’s move fits into wider Danish and European energy policy. Denmark’s Climate Act sets a legally binding goal of a 70% greenhouse gas reduction by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. At the system level, the Danish Energy Agency notes that biogas has shifted strongly towards upgrading and injection into the gas grid, and that Denmark expects gas consumption to become 100% green by 2030.
At EU level, the European Commission frames biomethane—upgraded biogas—as a renewable gas that can use existing infrastructure, and links its scale-up to energy security goals. Under the REPowerEU framework, the Commission has set a target of 35 bcm of biomethane production per year by 2030.
What to watch next for Copenhagen’s gas customers
For Copenhagen’s households, town gas is still primarily a cooking fuel, while many of the biggest volumes are driven by business demand. The key near-term question is how quickly HOFOR can expand local biogas sources—across wastewater and food waste—enough to fully phase out fossil natural gas in the bygas mix, while maintaining reliability for industrial users.
If the model works as planned, it strengthens a broader Nordic and European trend: using waste-based energy to cut fossil dependence without waiting for every end-use to electrify overnight. For Copenhagen, the promise is straightforward—what residents and restaurants throw away can come back as energy, delivered through the same pipes already running under the city streets.
