Organic waste - comprising food lost and wasted, agricultural residues and wastewater - are climate issues and must be recognised as such. Reducing food loss and waste and improving organic waste management will have a significant positive climate impact and help deliver on the goals and targets of the Paris Agreement and contribute to delivering on SDG 2 - Zero Hunger and meeting SDG12.3 - ‘Halving food waste by 2030.
The waste sector accounts for 20% of all anthropogenic methane emissions, created when organic waste decomposes, often in landfills and open dumps. Methane is a potent short-lived climate pollutant that has a warming effect more than 80 times more powerful than CO2 in the first two decades of its lifespan. As a precursor to ground-level ozone, methane is polluting the air and harmful for people’s health and impedes plant growth, impacting nature and crop productivity and with-it food security. Burning of waste in open fires comes with black carbon emissions, another short-lived climate pollutant. Aggressive methane reductions have near-term climate benefits, moderating future temperature rises, and as such are essential limiting warming to 1.5°C.
Every year, 1.05 billion tonnes of food is wasted globally, which represents a significant source of methane emissions, and a significant waste of resources that go into producing this food that is not meeting nutrition demands. Food waste reduction, through supply chain collaboration, consumer behavior change, supportive policy, and circular economy approaches, aligned with the waste hierarchy, are key to addressing organic waste and its detrimental impacts on human and ecosystem health, climate change, biodiversity, and our economy. Food loss reduction requires access to markets, cold chain improvements and can also be influenced by consumer choices as we have seen through ‘ugly food’ campaigns and alike. Agricultural residues instead of being burnt or left to rot, can be used to generate bioenergy, or revalorized through circularity approaches .
Just as for other organic waste, where food waste prevention has not been possible, it can be used to produce biogas and biomethane through anaerobic digestion, and the remaining digestate can be used as fertilizer. Organic waste can produce compost, another win-win solution. Or Black Soldier Fly technology has been used to produce protein [reference to CCAC-TEAP].
Solutions are not necessarily costly and rely for many on mature technologies. Where they replace fossil fuels in energy generation and/or in fertilizers, they come with additional wins for climate and can generate local jobs.
We will need the right policy frameworks to unlock the investments needed to get these solutions to scale. Solutions will come from partnerships, with financiers, private sector and also across levels of government. Cities are key players in this journey The Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 is a demonstration of both political will, ambition and partnership. It is a voluntary commitment to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. Meeting this target would reduce projected warming by at least 0.2°C by 2050. This may sound small but is essential to keeping the planet on a pathway consistent with staying within 1.5°C warming and reducing the risk of hitting dangerous tipping points. It would also prevent annually 255,000 premature deaths, 775,000 asthma-related hospitalizations, and 73 billion hours of lost labor due to extreme heat.
At COP28, Global Methane Pledge partners launched the Lowering Organic Waste Methane Partnership (LOW-Methane), which aims to support implementation under the Global Methane Pledge Waste Pathway. The UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) provides secretariat functions to the Global Methane Pledge and hosts the coordination team for the LOW-Methane Partnership.
Resources:
Solutions Explained
Black Soldier Fly Technology Infographic
Biocovers for Landfill Emissions Reduction
Collaboration and Engagement Opportunities
Funding Opportunities
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) funds projects that advance action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants. Check this page for information on current and upcoming calls, including essential project criteria and instructions on how to apply.
