EIB backs Swedish cleantech pioneer Meva Energy with €40 million for biogas innovatio

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB financing will help Meva Energy roll out and enhance modular, climate-neutral biogas plants across Europe.
• The project supports EU climate and energy security goals and advances next-generation bioeconomy technologies.
• Meva’s solutions provide manufacturing industries with a practical, on-site alternative to fossil gas by converting local biomass residues into renewable energy.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing €40 million in venture debt financing to Meva Energy AB (“Meva”), a Swedish cleantech company pioneering modular gasification plants that convert biomass residues into climate-neutral, industrial-grade biogas. This innovative fuel can directly replace fossil gas in a range of industries, supporting Europe’s transition to cleaner energy and greater energy independence.

The EIB’s investment will help Meva scale up beyond its current demonstration plant in Kisa, Sweden, enabling the company to enhance its technology and enter new markets. The project is backed by the European Commission’s InvestEU programme and aligns with three of the Bank’s strategic priorities:

• Enhancing climate action: Meva’s technology supports industrial decarbonisation in sectors such as pulp and paper, wood processing, and metals by enabling fossil fuel substitution. Its by-product, biochar, acts as a carbon removal solution, storing carbon in soil and contributing to negative emissions.
• Accelerating new technologies: The company advances biogas as a cost-effective alternative to fossil gas by developing low-value feedstock solutions and improving conversion efficiency.
• Supporting the bioeconomy: Meva’s plants turn biomass residues – many of them otherwise unused – into energy and biochar, encouraging sustainable forest management and delivering benefits for agriculture, soil remediation, and permanent carbon storage.

“Meva’s technology offers a compelling pathway for industries to decarbonise without compromising on quality or cost,” said Karl Nehammer, EIB Vice-President responsible for energy. “By investing in scalable, site-specific clean gas solutions, we’re helping accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels—supporting climate goals, energy security, and industrial resilience across Europe.”

Meva’s decentralised plants convert a wide range of biomass—including agricultural residues, pellets, and industrial wood waste—into biogas. While less refined than biomethane, the company’s biogas is a highly promising renewable fuel that can be used directly for heat and power or as a substitute for natural gas in industrial processes.

The technology uses high-temperature gasification in an oxygen-limited environment to produce a clean, versatile gas. The modular design allows plants to be tailored to client needs and installed directly on industrial sites, reducing transport costs and boosting energy security.

“We welcome the support from the European Investment Bank and the recognition it represents for Meva’s biomass gasification technology as a contributor to the decarbonisation of industrial energy use,” said Niclas Davidsson, CEO of Meva Energy. “This partnership with the EIB marks an important milestone in Meva’s development. It strengthens our capacity to scale up operations and to bring our circular, carbon-negative solutions to a broader range of manufacturing industries. Europe faces a pressing need to enhance energy security, preserve competitiveness, and advance long-term sustainability. The EIB’s engagement will play a key role in enabling Meva Energy to help address these challenges and to support the transition towards a more resilient and sustainable energy system.”

The EIB loan will support upgrades to Meva’s first of a kind plant with tissue-producer Sofidel in Sweden, the construction of a gasification unit for Ikea in Poland, and the world’s first fossil-free copper smelting for Elcowire Group in Sweden.

This investment contributes to the objectives of RePowerEU, the Net-Zero Industry Act, and the Clean Industrial Deal, reinforcing Europe’s energy security and industrial leadership in the green transition.

Background information

About the European Investment Bank Group

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. We finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives, including climate action, innovation, and sustainable growth. In 2024, the EIB Group signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects, supporting Europe’s competitiveness and security. All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.

About InvestEU

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps mobilise private investment for EU policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments previously available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners who will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.

About Meva Energy

Founded in 2008 as a spin-off from the Energitekniskt Centrum and Luleå University of Technology, Meva Energy is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its modular gasification plants to produce biogas from local biomass enable industries to reduce emissions, lower energy costs, and improve energy security, while supporting sustainable forest management and the bioeconomy.