Reforming the way societies collect and treat their waste could reduce global emissions of planet-warming methane, said a new report on Monday, which found that simple measures like composting are a climate solution. who “stares us in the face”.
Governments around the world have pledged to reduce emissions of methane (CH4) – which absorbs 80 times more solar radiation than carbon dioxide in short periods of time – in their fight to curb global warming.
Man-made sources of the potent greenhouse gas come largely from livestock farming and manure processing, which are responsible for about 30 percent of anthropogenic methane emissions, followed by the oil and gas sector (19 percent) and landfills (17 percent), according to UN Climate. Experts.
A new report by the organization Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) found that simple tweaks in the waste sector, particularly in urban areas, could reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of the annual emissions from 300 million cars.
The authors looked at “zero waste” strategies, such as separating organic materials, composting, recycling non-organic materials, and generally reducing discarded products.
Although reforms would not remove methane emissions from the waste system, the report estimates that the measures could reduce total emissions of methane from human sources by up to 13 percent worldwide.
– consumption changes –
The authors said that a focus on waste reduction would not only tackle methane that is leached from landfills as organic matter rots, but could also significantly reduce carbon pollution from the manufacture, transportation and use of goods.
“Better waste management is a solution to climate change that’s staring us in the face,” said Neil Tangri, co-author of GAIA’s report.
“It doesn’t require any flashy or expensive new technology – it’s just a matter of paying more attention to what we produce and consume and how we deal with it when it’s no longer needed.”
The authors stressed that waste disposal was a key element in achieving the Paris Agreement’s ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The researchers modeled potential emissions reductions from eight cities around the world and found that they could reduce emissions from the waste sector by almost 84 percent on average.
Methane has so far been responsible for around 30 percent of global temperature rise.
The potent greenhouse gas lasts a fraction as long in the atmosphere as CO2, but is far more efficient at capturing heat. Concentrations of the gas are the highest in at least 800,000 years.
At last year’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, more than 100 nations agreed to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2030 as part of the Global Methane Pledge. But several major methane emitters – including China, Russia, Iran and India – failed to sign.
“This report shows the importance of aligning our waste systems with climate goals,” said Janez Potocnik of the UN Environment Programme’s International Resource Panel.
“It underscores the absolute need to reduce sources of waste by changing our production and consumption patterns – using all the tools at our disposal to achieve the deep emissions reductions we need.”
