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More than 30 countries have endorsed the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, including eight of the 10 largest emitters of methane from organic wastes.
“Countries commit setting up sectoral targets on food wastes within their future Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC),” Yalchin Rafiyev, the Lead Negotiator for COP29 Azerbaijan, said at a press conference.
Earlier on November 19, during the presidential meeting, countries like the United States, Germany, United Kingdom and the UAE, endorsed the declaration. This comes after the COP28 President launched the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, which was signed by 50 industries to achieve near-zero upstream methane emissions last year in Dubai.
“COP28 focussed on methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector and COP29 is focusing on waste,” Rick Duke, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, United States said at the presidency event held earlier in the day, adding that there was an opportunity for the COP30 presidency Brazil to announce a pledge targeting methane emissions from the agricultural sector.
“Previous COPs have already made progress on the Global Methane Pledge [signed by over 150 countries to reduce global methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030]. To deliver on the pledge, we need to address all sectors like agriculture, wastes and fossil fuel. To build and complement these measures, we launched this declaration to reduce methane from organic wastes,” Rafiyev said at the press conference.
Methane is responsible for a third of net warming since the preindustrial era. The waste sector releases methane when organic wastes — food and yard waste, paper, cardboard, wood, and bodily wastes — break down in the oxygen-free environment found in landfills, dumpsites, and wastewater facilities around the world. The waste sector contributes roughly 20 per cent of anthropogenic methane emissions.
The declaration will focus on five priority areas — NDCs, regulation, data, finance, and partnership.
Countries have opportunities to include targets for the waste sector in the NDCs, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme Inger Andersen said at the presidential event. There is also need for regulation and understanding the best practices in other countries, she added.
“We need data on where does the waste come from and how to tackle it. We need finance in solid waste management. This is critical. We also need partnerships across the board so we can learn from each other. If we tackle waste, we can tackle health of people living around, and groundwater as well,” she explained.
Down To Earth spoke with Martina Otto, Head of Secretariat, Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), a partnership of over 160 governments and organisations committed to reducing short-lived climate pollutants like methane. CCAC is supporting the COP29 presidency in its declaration on reducing methane emissions from organic wastes.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: What are your expectations from this declaration?
A: It was the COP presidency of Azerbaijan that wanted to work on continuity. So rather than running up for new initiatives, they wanted to follow through and build on things that are already there. That is why they announced they wanted to work as the troika between UAE and Brazil, (which will host COP20) in the future. They decided to take the global methane pledge that emerged out of COP26, forward.
Methane emissions come from three main sectors — fossil fuels, waste sector and agriculture. The UAE had a very strong oil and gas focus. It is clear already that Brazil will have some focus on agriculture. The waste sector contributes 20 per cent of methane emissions. But as we heard from countries, there is more motivation needed to act.
With wastes, we will have to take action upstream to avoid, to divert, and to revalorise methane emissions. And with the revalorisation, we get interesting business. So, there are a number of reasons why it makes sense to act on it.
The COP29 presidency asked us to support this declaration because we (CCAC) are the secretariat to the global methane pledge.
Q. One of the priority areas is data, which has helped UNEP detect methane leaks from oil and gas plants. How do you plan to use data to slash emissions in the waste sector?
A. Just like with the oil and gas sector, if there is a landfill or dump site that is hugely emitting, we should be able to see it with the help of satellites. With the oil and gas sector, if there is a leakage, it can detect where the leaks are happening. But we know where landfills are. We smell them, we see them. If satellites can help us quantify the emissions, that will be helpful. But satellite data is not enough. We will also need to do the ground truthing, which means we will need to have data collection at the dumpsite and landfill. It is a complicated story because methane emissions are not equal throughout the year. It depends on the operational cycles as well.
But we do not have enough data at the moment. The data situation should not hold us back from taking action. We know enough to act.
Having more data would help with monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV). When we want to see how much we have been progressing and cleaning up. It is good to have a solid baseline.
Q. During the presidential meeting, some countries mentioned how Article 6 could help in cutting emissions from organic wastes. Do you see MRV being used here?
A. Yes. If you want to tap into carbon markets, you need a baseline and you need to be able to prove how much you have been reducing, and that must be accurate.
Q. Do you think using Article 6 can help, given that there have been issues with Clean Development Mechanism and voluntary carbon markets?
A. I think it is worth continuing that path because we need the investment. But that is not the only way to tap into finance. Article 6 is a part of the options. It is important to get investments to help capture the methane, and then methane can help with access to energy. And then we have to have a bridging mechanism because you can sell the energy afterwards. So we have to have a bridging mechanism to get the revenues throughout the time to pay back the capital that was put into it. But the more we go upstream, the more interesting things can become, and then it is about creating business opportunities.
We have seen examples across the globe at different scales where organic waste is turned into protein, and then this can be either sold as animal feed, or depending on cultural context, it could also be for us...to feed us, to have an alternative source of protein. It has to be clean, obviously. There is a byproduct that helps as a fertiliser, for example. So, there is something about circularity that is absolutely amazing. Here, we need startup capital and then it becomes a business opportunity.
Q. The European Commission welcomed the declaration but did not endorse the pledge.
A. The European Commission has a process that requires them to have consultation with all the member states. There was not enough time for them to do consultations with all the member states, but several member states are endorsing the declaration. The European Commission said it is very much aligned with the commission’s objectives. It is only a matter of time. I think they will come back and do it officially.
Q. The third generation of NDCs are expected to be announced in 2025. How are you helping nations include methane emissions in the national plans?
A. We are working with countries, on the inclusion of all the short-lived climate pollutants, including methane, black carbon, the HFCs, and tropospheric ozone. We have also looked at guidance on nitrous oxide. We have a support system in place to help countries. We run training workshops and support over 30 countries in including short-lived climate pollutants into the NDCs. We do that on request by a country.