The Q1 2025 statistics covering UK RGGO (Renewable Gas Guarantees of Origin) transactions were released by the GGCS (Green Gas Certification Scheme) on 30 April 2025. Retirements have increased for the quarter and year-on-year, with ex-domain cancellations comprising a third of retirements in 2025.
Retirements for Q1 2025 (949 GWh) were up more than 50% compared to the previous quarter (626 GWh), and up 11% year-on-year (851 GWh for Q1 2024).
The GGCS no longer publishes a quarterly sector breakdown for retirements. However, the Q1 report includes a geographical breakdown of retirements, including ex-domain cancellations, which were not previously reported upon.
Transfers to DENA and AGCS registries in Q1 reached 314 GWh, already exceeding half of the 2024 total (520 GWh) and nearly double the 163 GWh transferred in Q1 2024. A further 311 GWh was cancelled within the UK for domestic end-users (that is, usage within the UK).
Ex-domain retirements, previously less visible, amounted to 324 GWh in Q1, with Switzerland and Norway accounting for more than half of these. Switzerland has historically “imported” biomethane from the UK for disclosure purposes (731 GWh in 2023, according to VSG). It is unclear which end-users in Norway are driving RGGO demand. A possible scenario would be a company with natural gas-consuming operations in both the UK and Norway, retiring RGGOs for corporate disclosure purposes.
Looking at the breakdown of active RGGOs (that is, issued RGGOs that have not yet been retired or expired) gives the picture below:
Of the 5.7 TWh of active RGGOs, less than 3% (154 GWh) are for current year (2025) production – not unsurprising given only a quarter of the year (three months of production) has lapsed and there is often a lag associated with the issuing process. Source
A snapshot of Q1 from 2023 offers a similar picture, although current year issuances then (that is, 2023 production) represented a slightly higher proportion (6.7%) of active RGGOs. Source
As the year progresses, the current year vintage will increase in both volume and proportion. The Q2 snapshot from 2024 illustrates this: current year and CY-1 RGGO active volumes were similar, each comprising 39% of the total active volume. This aligns with the observation that the main traded vintage tends to switch during the summer, from CY-1 to current year (see the RGGO bid/ask graph on the market data page).
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