On June 11, 2026, the German Bundestag held its first reading of a bill that will shape how millions of buildings are heated for years to come. The Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz (Building Modernization Act) is best known for revising the controversial requirements for new heating systems, which were widely perceived as a de facto push toward heat pumps. Less noticed is what’s set to replace it: a gradually rising requirement for gas and oil heating systems to run on climate-neutral fuels chief among them, biomethane. For a gas that has gained strategic attention in recent years, this could be the moment that matters.
The Case for Biomethane
Biomethane starts life as biogas – a mix of methane and CO2 produced when organic material breaks down, whether that’s food waste, manure, or sewage sludge. Strip out the CO2 and a few trace gases, and what’s left is chemically indistinguishable from the natural gas. But there is one key difference: burning it doesn’t add new carbon to the atmosphere, since the CO2 released is the same CO2 that organic matter previously absorbed.
Another advantage is that biomethane can be used through the existing natural gas infrastructure. This makes it easy to put to work. Biomethane can be used in industrial processes, as Bio-CNG or Bio-LNG in transportation, in power plants for combined heat and power generation, and in gas boilers for space heating. Right now, that last use case is especially relevant. Biomethane’s next growth chapter in Germany may be written in millions of gas boilers used for space heating.
A Built-In Market for Biomethane
This is where the Building Modernization Act comes back into the picture. Rather than mandating a specific heating technology, the draft law ties new gas and oil heating systems to a rising fuel-blending requirement dubbed the Bio-Treppe, or bio-staircase. Starting in 2029, at least 10 percent of the fuel used must be climate-neutral, rising to 15 percent in 2030, 30 percent in 2035, and 60 percent by 2040. A separate quota will require suppliers to blend a small share of green gas or green oil into what they sell, starting at 1 percent in 2028. Biomethane qualifies under both rules.
Heat pumps and district heating remain very much part of the picture, and the bill still has to clear the Bundestag and Bundesrat, with entry into force currently expected in November 2026. But if it passes in anything close to its current form, it would create something biomethane has lacked in Germany: a regulated, steadily expanding source of demand. It would apply not just to new buildings, but to any building where a gas or oil heating system is replaced going forward.
Why Certification Matters
None of this – the bio-staircase, the supplier quota, and the renewable-energy and emissions-reduction targets set by the European Union (EU) works unless the biomethane in question can be verified as genuinely sustainable. Because biomethane often moves through complex, cross-border supply chains, regulators lean on certification to separate compliant gas from the rest. Only certified volumes can be counted toward quotas and targets.
The standard that matters here is the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), in its EU-relevant version. It’s an internationally recognized system for certifying supply chains as sustainable and traceable. Certification is based on independent audits. An ISCC certificate provides evidence that a renewable energy source such as biomethane is produced sustainably, can be fully traced, and complies with the EU requirements set out in the second and third versions of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED). In the current third version (RED III), the requirements were tightened further, sharpening the conditions under which renewable energy sources can be recognized and counted toward quotas and targets.
The Demand Signal and the Bar for Proof
Biomethane spent the past few years as a technology that many agreed was useful, but it was far from realizing its growth potential. Germany’s draft heating law won’t single-handedly close the gap to the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets, and it still has to make it through the legislative process intact. But it’s arguably the clearest signal yet that demand is starting to move.
For companies operating in the German market, the competitive edge will come down to who can document sustainability in a way that stands up to an audit. Certification stops being paperwork and becomes market access. The question is no longer just whether biomethane is sustainable, but whether it can be proven to the standard the proposed law would require.
The market in Germany is about to move, and certification will determine who can meet the rising demand. TEAM LEWIS can support your communications on the energy transition. In addition, we can help with sustainability reporting and the messaging that flows from it.
