Waste management for climate mitigation

• Florence School of Transnational Governance
• EUI Climate Workshop
• STG Climate

Seminar as part of the EUI Climate Workshop

Globally, the waste sector accounts for three percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This sector – landfills in particular – is also one of the largest methane emitters globally which comes as a warning by IPCC against the underestimation of methane’s immediate impact given its 84 times higher global warming potential than CO₂ over 20 years. Improved waste management with a life-cycle approach can potentially reduce 10-15 percent of global GHG emissions across sectors as per the estimate by Global Waste Management Outlook. In India too, the waste sector’s contribution to the total emission profile is three percent, which has shown an increase by 35.5 percent just between 2007 to 2014. 

India has a huge potential for both upstream waste minimisation and downstream resource recovery across waste streams leveraging its sustainable ways and existing informal waste network. However, the waste regulations and practices does not effectively tap a climate mitigation approach. It is critical, therefore, to address the need for a comprehensive approach in India’s waste management policies to effectively deliver on India’s decarbonisation promises.

Agansit this background, this talk will discuss the role of sustainable waste management in climate mitigation, analyse the best cases of climate mitigation convergence in EU waste policies and present the challenges and road ahead for a developing economy taking the case of India. 

The talk will be followed by comments from Mr. Satish Sinha, Associate Director, Toxics Link – a pioneering Indian think-tank working on waste and chemical management.