Climate advocates, researchers, youth leaders and local government officials have urged governments and climate financiers at COP31 to reject waste incineration and put their money into waste prevention, reuse, repair and composting instead.
At a press conference titled “Zero Waste COP – Incinerators Out. Zero Waste In.”, organised by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) on 11 November, speakers said the climate impact of waste can only be cut by tackling it at the source, not by building more facilities to burn or bury it.
“Zero waste is climate action, but only when we address the problem at its source. We cannot solve the waste crisis by building more infrastructure to burn or dispose of what we produce,” said Mariel Vilella, Climate Program Director at GAIA. “Preventing waste, expanding reuse and composting organic materials are practical and proven solutions that can cut emissions while delivering benefits for communities.”
Rotting rubbish is a major source of methane, a gas about 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over 20 years. According to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), municipal solid waste and wastewater are the third-largest and fastest-growing source of human-caused methane, at nearly 20 per cent (about one in every five tonnes). Without action, these emissions are projected to rise by 6 to 18 per cent between 2020 and 2030.
The CCAC also estimates that about 40 per cent of the world’s waste is openly burned (two in every five bags of rubbish), releasing black carbon and other harmful pollutants. Around 2.5 billion people (about three in every ten people on Earth) lack adequate waste management services, mainly because city authorities cannot afford them.
Methane in the atmosphere reached a record 1,948 parts per billion in 2025, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2026 says global methane emissions must fall by at least 25 per cent (one-quarter) by 2035, compared with 2025. For organic waste, the CCAC says methane must fall by at least 30 to 35 per cent (about one-third) to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach.
The warming is already here. WMO’s State of the Climate update, released at the start of COP31, puts the global average temperature for January to September 2026 at 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels, with 2015–2026 set to be the 12 warmest years on record. UNEP says current policies put the world on course for about 2.8°C of warming by 2100 (nearly double the 1.5°C limit).
Speakers warned that the climate problem with waste begins long before disposal. Plastic production is closely tied to fossil fuels, with emissions across its lifecycle. “We cannot tackle climate change while allowing plastic production to keep expanding. Reducing plastic production and scaling reuse must be part of any credible climate strategy,” said Mohamed Kamal, Coordinator of Climate Action Network Arab World (CANAW).
A new GAIA report, Africa’s Waste Crisis Is Attracting the Wrong Solution: Waste-to-Energy Incineration, released on 15 October, examines 15 waste-to-energy projects and proposals across 10 African countries: Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Only one, the Reppie plant in Ethiopia, is operating. Two are under construction and twelve are at the approval, financing, planning or proposal stage. Together, they carry more than US$4 billion in capital costs for an estimated 520–550 MW of capacity.
The report finds that African public funds are the largest source of finance for these projects, and that long contracts can shift economic risk onto the public even when projects are described as private. Near Ethiopia’s Koshe dumpsite, interviews found a 50 per cent drop (half) in waste pickers’ earnings linked to the Reppie incinerator.
GAIA says most of Africa’s waste is organic and wet, so it burns poorly and may need fossil fuel support. Incinerators also release toxic pollutants and ash, cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and lock cities into 25–30 year contracts that require a constant supply of waste. The CCAC notes that more than half of municipal solid waste in developing countries is organic. The report calls for a moratorium on new incineration agreements until independent assessments are done, public disclosure of contracts and impact assessments, formal integration of waste pickers, and investment in source separation, collection, composting and recycling.
“Incineration can lock municipalities into costly infrastructure, expose communities to harmful pollution, and divert resources from more inclusive zero waste alternatives,” said Weyinmi Okotie, Executive Director of Green Knowledge Foundation. “Africa needs solutions that respond to its actual waste realities, not expensive technologies that create new problems.”
Speakers said the financing imbalance is a major barrier to the zero waste transition. “Governments and climate financiers must correct this imbalance and make climate finance accessible to the communities and cities already delivering solutions,” said Jacob Johnson Attakpah, Zero Waste Director of the Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO).
The scale of the need is large. Countries that have costed their national climate plans report finance needs of about US$3.6 trillion, including US$893–898 billion for adaptation, according to the UN Climate Change secretariat’s 2026 synthesis of national climate plans. That synthesis also found that 89 per cent of countries report measures to cut methane from waste. Yet money for cleaner air remains thin: the Clean Air Fund’s State of Global Air Quality Funding 2026 found that funding aimed directly at outdoor air pollution is still less than 1 per cent of international development funding (less than US$1 in every US$100), and 89 per cent of air quality funding between 2020 and 2024 came as loans.
The returns are high. UNEP and the CCAC’s Hidden Assets report, published in September, found that every US$1 invested in 25 measures that tackle air pollution and climate change together, including clean cooking, brings back about US$15 in economic benefits. The measures could prevent about 144 million premature deaths by 2050 and avoid about 0.34°C of warming by mid-century.
Cities are central to the solution, said Shahriar Hossain of the Government of Bangladesh. He said cities are on the frontlines of the waste and climate crises but are also where many of the solutions can happen, and that they need strong political support, consistent public investment and policies that make zero waste systems possible at scale.
Attakpah, who leads GAYO’s delegation at COP31, said the group is among the African organisations pressing for finance to reach community-led waste solutions.
“The litmus test of climate finance is whether it reaches the people and services capable of delivering change and results; that means financing the daily work of separation, collection, reuse and composting while recognizing the people who make it possible, waste pickers and other actors in the informal sector,” he said.
The Ghana-based organisation won the 2024 Earthshot Prize in the “Clean our air” category, worth £1 million, for its Zero Waste Accra model, after being nominated by the Clean Air Fund. The project diverts organic, plastic and electronic waste from landfills and open burning, supports 500 waste pickers and informal collectors, and aims to divert 4,000 tonnes of waste by 2030 while cutting greenhouse gas and particulate emissions by 70 per cent compared with open burning, according to the Clean Air Fund.
In July 2026, the City of Accra launched a LOW-Methane Portfolio, developed with technical support from GAYO, GAIA and C40 Cities. It aims to cut methane from waste disposal by at least 30 per cent by 2030, separate at least half of the city’s organic waste at source by 2030, and reduce methane emissions by about 13,500 tonnes a year by 2040.
At national level, Ghana’s updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), its climate plan for 2025–2035, were presented for validation in Accra in May. The plan is expected to cost about US$53.3 billion over ten years (about US$5.3 billion a year), and circular economy and waste management is one of its five pillars, with measures including recycling, biodigesters and methane capture.
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