(ENJ) COP 29 ORGANIC WASTE AGREEMENT

Azerbaijan has launched the Reducing Methane from Organic Waste Declaration as part of its UN climate summit presidency, with more than 30 states signing up.

The United States, Germany, United Kingdom, UAE, and Brazil have all endorsed the pledge. Nations on board collectively account for almost half of all global methane emissions, with 8 of the 10 biggest polluters of this kind involved.

The deal follows on from the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter, launched at COP28, which saw 50 industries agree to achieve near-zero upstream methane emissions. It also builds on the 2021 Global Methane Pledge, a produce of COP26, which set a target of reducing associated emissions by 30% below 2020 levels within the next five years. Currently, organic waste — including food — is the third-largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions, just behind agriculture and fossil fuels.

‘FAO welcomes the launch of the Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers and looks forward to working with the COP29 Azerbaijan Presidency, as well as stakeholders and partners, to accelerate the transformation towards sustainable, inclusive and resilient agrifood systems,’ said Kaveh Zahedi, Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment at the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] of the UN. ‘The Harmoniya Initiative acknowledges the fundamental role of farmers as key agents of change and represents an unparalleled opportunity to drive concrete climate solutions through agrifood systems.’

‘The COP29 Presidency has worked to drive progress on mitigation throughout the year through both the UNFCCC process and our own Action Agenda,’ added COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev. ‘Today’s declaration takes a great stride forward in helping nations to implement the Global Methane Pledge, which is an important part of global efforts to reduce our emissions in this critical decade for climate action.’ 

The COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste will require that national climate policies set concrete targets to reduce methane from waste and food systems, aligning with the 1.5°C goal. Signatories commit to launching concrete policies and roadmaps to meet these sectoral methane targets ahead of COP30 in Brazil.

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