What is Remediated Mine Gas?

For heavy energy users, switching to remediated mine gas is a win-win: it supports individual companies’ decarbonization efforts and helps the environment by preventing harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere.

Remediated mine gas (RMG) is an ultra-low carbon fuel produced from waste gas captured from active or abandoned mines that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The captured gas is then upgraded for use in existing natural gas pipelines.  

Here’s what you need to know about how RMG is produced, pros and cons of using it to reduce emissions, and key considerations for adopting it.

What is RMG?

Because of its origin, RMG is also sometimes referred to as coal mine methane or abandoned mine methane. Captured mine waste gas is primarily methane, a greenhouse gas that is 28 to 36 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO₂), when measured on a 100-year time scale.  

U.S. federal regulations require mines to vent waste gas to ensure mine and mine worker safety. However, there are no federal regulations requiring the management of the untreated waste gas once it’s vented from a mine. As a result, it’s common for mine gas to be released into the atmosphere, where according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it accounts for 8% of the country’s total methane emissions. Mines must continue to vent waste gases even after mining stops, which often leads to harmful waste gases being released into the atmosphere for decades, which contributes to long-term harm to the environment.  

In 2022, abandoned U.S. mines emitted 6.3 million megatons of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) of uncaptured methane, according to the EPA.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ‍

https://www.epa.gov/cmop/about-coal-mine-methane

Turning mine gas into RMG prevents such harms and turns a waste product into a source of energy. The conversion process involves capturing the gas, processing it to remove impurities, and compressing it so it can be distributed through existing natural gas pipelines. The process is similar to the process used to produce and distribute renewable natural gas (RNG).

According to the EPA, sources of RMG include:

• Active underground mines, which release methane through drainage (degasification) and ventilation systems

• Abandoned or closed mines, which release methane through vents, ventilation pipes, boreholes, or fissures in the ground

• Surface mines, which typically emit less methane than underground mines but can produce large quantities depending on the volume of coal being mined

The Pros and Cons of RMG

RMG has many benefits that make it useful for companies that want to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from sources they own or control, including vehicles, ships, boilers, or construction or agricultural equipment.

RMG’s carbon intensity is low. Carbon intensity is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a single unit of energy or activity. RMG’s carbon intensity is comparable to that of manure-based renewable natural gas (RNG), as assessed by the R&D Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET) Model, created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. That makes it a valuable tool for reducing emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, such as data centers, power generation, chemical manufacturing, and other energy intensive manufacturing applications.  

It’s a cost-effective method for methane abatement. According to a 2025 analysis, the cost of methane abatement is approximately $20 per ton of CO₂e (t CO₂e), making it a cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and economically viable to scale.

It’s a drop-in fuel. RMG can be injected into common carrier natural gas pipelines without the need to update existing infrastructure. As a drop-in fuel, companies operating plants or facilities that use natural gas can switch to RMG to reduce carbon intensity without modifying existing infrastructure.

It’s attractive to high energy users. For companies that consume substantial energy in the course of doing business, such as power producers, data centers, or chemical manufacturers, RMG is an attractive low carbon intensity option to using conventional fossil resources.

It’s recognized by multiple environmental attribute certificate registries. RMG has been accepted as an approved resource for generating environmental attribute certificates on M-RETS, the CleanCounts service that tracks and manages attributes and energy commodities, with the first projects expected to list by the end of July, 2026. However, it is recognized under several state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), including in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, and Illinois. When Argonne National Laboratory integrated RMG into the federal GREET model in 2024, it allowed companies to use it to qualify for the Inflation Reduction Act’s Section 45Z tax credit programs.

To ensure it fits their needs, buyers considering RMG should keep in mind that:

It’s non-biogenic. Non-biogenic fuels are derived from non-organic materials. Although RMG delivers significant emissions reductions based on scientific analysis, because it is a fossil derived fuel its eligibility for renewable energy incentives may be limited.

Guidance is limited. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol global standards setting body does not include a dedicated, widely accepted method to account for methane avoidance associated with RMG in inventories. Existing methane avoidance accounting differs by reporting company, industry targets, and gaseous fuels program. However, widely accepted methodologies exist for crediting methane avoidance associated with RMG destruction, including the Climate Action Reserve, American Carbon Registry, and California Air Resources Board protocols. Work is ongoing to expand these methodologies to recognize pipeline injected RMG under the same framework.  

Key Considerations for Adopting RMG

RMG is a strong fit for organizations with significant energy demands, especially companies that use natural gas for heating, power, or industrial processes. RMG also works well for companies that need drop-in, infrastructure-compatible low-carbon fuels that do not require equipment replacement or retrofits.

Because RMG mitigates high-impact methane emissions, it’s attractive for companies that have methane-focused climate targets or that want to adopt ultra-low-carbon-intensity fuels to reduce emissions. It is especially attractive for companies that have pipeline access, or that operate in regions where regulators or voluntary markets recognize methane-avoidance attributes.

Companies considering RMG need to understand how they will integrate methane avoidance “insetting” into their emissions inventories. That includes how to recognize the methane-avoidance benefit under applicable regional programs, how they will transact and retire attributes (either as bundled gas or environmental attribute certificates), and how their emissions reporting strategies will incorporate market-based reporting.  

RMG is an ideal solution for buyers assessing an integrated thermal decarbonization strategy that accounts for cost, availability, insetting, and alignment with corporate claims guidance.

How Anew Can Help

RMG offers buyers a powerful emissions reduction tool that offers meaningful decarbonization at scale. RMG not only reduces harmful emissions at the source, it turns a waste product into a useful energy source and practical climate solution.

In the United States, Anew markets RMG through partnerships with multiple RMG capture projects and offers a comprehensive strategy for our buyers to leverage this resource.  

Talk to us about your needs.

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