Climate killer methane from organic waste to be reduced worldwide

For the first time at a UN climate summit, at COP29 in Baku today a political declaration was announced that focuses on the link between climate action and waste management. At a high-level event, Germany and more than 30 other countries from all UN regions announced their commitment to the Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste. The Declaration is an initiative by the Azeri COP29 Presidency. It aims to shine a spotlight on global actions by the waste industry for methane abatement, on improving funding and on synergies with other key environmental and development goals, especially soil conservation and food security. It supplements the work of the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), the worldwide initiative to reduce methane emissions in agriculture, energy industry and the waste sector by 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2020.

State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry Stefan Tidow commented: "Eliminating methane emissions from the waste sector brings us that bit closer to the global climate targets of the Paris Agreement. The COP29 Declaration and supporting the Global Methane Pledge are important steps along this path, including towards resource-efficient circular economy. We call on all Parties to boost their efforts to reduce organic waste, biodegradable waste and food waste in landfills and to step up household collection and the recovery of these wastes. In Germany, our ban on landfilling untreated biodegradable municipal waste verifiably led to huge reductions in methane emissions. And we will get the remaining methane emissions under control as well. But landfills should be made safer in the EU as a whole, and the ban on landfilling enforced consistently in all Member States. We welcome the COP29 Presidency’s initiative for this Declaration and look forward to many more countries endorsing it."

Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Stephan Wenzel said: "Methane emissions in the waste sector must be cut drastically at the same time as emissions in the fossil energy sector. Alongside phasing out fossil resource use as quickly as possible, it is imperative that we improve production standards for the remaining period of use, especially for oil and gas production. In this context, the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 sets excellent standards worldwide. Methane emissions from fossil fuel production have to be reduced by 75 percent by 2030 to meet the Global Methane Pledge and keep the 1.5 degree target within reach. We laid the foundation for implementing this goal with the EU Methane Regulation. Now, we must join with the industry to take action."

Germany is seen as a pioneer within the Global Methane Pledge community, not least because of its successful abatement of methane in the waste sector. Reducing methane emissions from organic waste is a key focus of waste management and circular economy in Germany. The ban on landfilling untreated municipal waste entered into force in 2005. It was and remains instrumental for successfully preventing and reducing methane emissions in the waste sector by lowering the rate of methane formation in landfills and thus reducing methane emissions permanently. This was made possible by the use of suitable thermal or mechanical-biological waste treatment technologies and the separate collection of waste streams like organic household waste. To further reduce the small amount of methane emissions still present in German landfills, improved capture and recovery of landfill gas is supported with funding from the National Climate Initiative.