Overview

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ISABEL is about promoting, supporting and developing community biogas in Europe. The project is set on providing all the framework conditions for biogas communities to shape, develop and thrive and works on all angles in order to pave the way for the transition from traditional supply chains to community ownership and to take full advantage of the ample societal benefits of local community-driven biogas systems, fuelled and inspired by social innovation principles.

ISABEL will unfold simultaneously in three regions across Europe, located in the United Kingdom (Yorkshire and Humber), Germany (Baden-Württemberg), and Greece (Central and Eastern Macedonia & Thrace). The three targeted countries and regions are notably in different phases of maturity and development, providing a complementary synthesis of evidence. For realising its aims and objectives the project brings together and uses as a baseline the following three pillars.

Local community
ISABEL is focused on local and small-scale production and consumption of biogas and operates under the assumption that local biogas supply chains are best organised when all stakeholders, including citizens, are involved in the governance and decision-making processes. In support to this vision, ISABEL launches local interventions with the aim to create new and support existing biogas communities in co-developing and testing different cooperative models, tailored to local contexts.

Sustainable biogas
ISABEL promotes Biogas produced through Anaerobic Digestion (AD) of organic waste. This process is considered to be fully sustainable as it includes a clear set of advantages:

It can function on 100% organic waste without requiring energy crops
It is a zero-sum GHG emissions process
It produces usable by-products
It is suitable for small-scale production
It is synergistic with other renewables (e.g. solar and wind)
There is a plethora of alternative uses for the Biogas

Empowerment
ISABEL strives to empower communities to realize their local vision by providing them with:

Expert advice and information on all aspects of AD Biogas and community energy
A digital collaborative platform and specialized tools for planning and development
Hands-on collaboration and innovation workshops and events (36 events in total)
Targeted awareness campaign and online presence (reaching >3000 stakeholders)
Access to policy-makers and authorities
A platform to share knowledge and resources with similar initiatives across Europe