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By Sonia Astudillo
Governments are overlooking simple, effective tools to curb methane emissions from waste, analysis of the latest round of national climate plans (NDCs) shows.
GAIA examined 14 NDCs submitted to the UN climate body from countries chosen for their ambition and strong potential to curb emissions with zero-waste strategies. All had signed up to the Global Methane Pledge and the Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste.
While there were some good elements in four of the plans, ten were weak or harmful. No country has fully captured the potential emissions savings and social benefits of an effective zero-waste strategy.
Key findings:
- Brazil showed significant progress from its previous NDC, with solid policy framing and concrete measures to manage organic waste.
- Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, and Nigeria placed increased emphasis on a just transition, including references to job retraining, skills development, and addressing the challenges faced by informal workers.
- However, the majority of plans failed to integrate waste pickers, who have a critical role to play in implementing zero-waste strategies.
- Nepal, Uruguay, Colombia, Morocco, and Bangladesh planned to establish or expand waste-to-energy infrastructure, also known as incineration, which emits carbon dioxide, undermines recycling efforts, and displaces jobs.
“It is good to see increased attention on waste sector mitigation potential in national climate plans,” says Doun Moon, policy and research officer at GAIA. “However, too many plans focus on waste disposal rather than prevention or material recovery, often favoring private profits over people. Our research shows that community-led zero waste initiatives are one of the fastest, cheapest ways to cut methane emissions.” - Waste accounts for 20% of human-caused emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Best practices in waste management, including source separation, composting, bio-stabilization, and bio-cover for dumpsites, can cut these emissions by 95% and provide good jobs.
More broadly, 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the material economy. A zero-waste strategy that follows the reduce, reuse, recycle hierarchy can cut emissions at every stage of the value chain.
The national climate plans analysed were from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Uruguay, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The focus is on countries in the Global South, which can leapfrog false solutions like incineration and go straight to zero-waste models with the right finance. Other countries with a similar profile have yet to submit NDCs. See GAIA’s interactive map for the latest country-level analysis of waste management in NDCs.
“We urge governments to embrace zero waste as a climate solution, with waste pickers and communities at its heart,” says Mariel Vilela, director of the global climate program at GAIA. “The upcoming COP30 climate conference is a moment to share success stories and get money flowing to the people making things happen on the ground.”
GAIA has published detailed policy recommendations for Chile, Indonesia, and South Africa to put zero waste into action.
