Environmental problems and resource scarcity lead to an increasing societal demand for a more environmentally friendly energy supply while at the same time conserving finite and scarce resources. A shift to a decarbonized and less emission intensive energy sector is therefore one of the most challenging tasks for global society in the 21st century. The production of biogas by anaerobic digestion of energy crops, manure, residues and waste from primary agricultural production and food processing can make an important contribution to this necessary development. Anaerobic digestion is a biological process that converts organic material into biogas by microbial degradation. The produced biogas mainly consists of carbon dioxide and methane, which makes it a valuable energy carrier that can be used via different utilization pathways and replace fossil fuels. By replacing fossil fuels, resource savings can be achieved and emissions can be avoided. However, the production and use of biogas itself is also associated with emissions and related negative environmental impacts. This aspect is even more relevant because biogas production systems and utilization of biogas differ considerably between developing and developed countries regarding digester type, digester size, feedstock and utilization pathways for the gas produced. From a holistic point of view, the overall environmental impacts are therefore dependent on numerous influencing factors, which have been examined in more detail in this work.weiterlesen