GENA Solutions’ Project Navigator now puts the global renewable and low-carbon methanol pipeline at 61m tonnes of capacity by 2031, according to an update shared by co-founder and CEO Vitalii Protasov.

The Finland-based consultancy’s tracker covered 281 developments at the end of April 2026. It showed a month-on-month increase of 1.4m tonnes after eight new schemes were added and eight frozen entries were removed. Growth was supported by the larger average scale of the newly added developments.

The update highlighted a particularly active month in China, where six renewable methanol projects with a combined capacity of 1.9m tonnes held groundbreaking ceremonies. However, GENA Solutions’ analysis found that three of those schemes are not yet ready to begin construction in the near term.

The pipeline currently comprises 24.9m tonnes of e-methanol, 25m tonnes of biomethanol and 11.2m tonnes of low-carbon methanol.

Protasov noted that China and Europe remain the main centres for renewable methanol development, together accounting for about 82% of the global pipeline. China represents roughly 30m tonnes of planned capacity, while Europe accounts for 11m tonnes.

Project Navigator also indicates that renewable methanol output could rise from 0.9m tonnes in 2025 to around 1.5m tonnes in 2026 and 2.2m-2.4m tonnes in 2027.

Looking further ahead, the firm estimates that global renewable methanol capacity could range from 5m tonnes to 12m tonnes by 2030, depending on project progress and broader market conditions.

GENA Solutions is a Finland-based consultancy focused on renewable and low-carbon fuels, including methanol market analysis and project tracking.