Jose Uribe
Operations Director ISWA
Ten years after the Paris Climate Agreement, COP30 in Belém delivered a mixed response, in many respects incomplete, to the climate crisis. There was progress on climate finance and recognition of the importance of forest protection, but the outcome still falls short of what is required to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. From the perspective of the ISWA Declaration for COP30, one conclusion stands out: improved waste and resource management remains an underused but immediately available climate solution that can deliver fast, cost-effective and socially beneficial results.
At COP30, two new initiatives underlined how rapidly food and organic waste are moving up the climate agenda. The NOW! (No Organic Waste) initiative was presented as a global effort to tackle methane emissions from organic and food waste by transforming how cities and countries collect, treat and value these streams. By promoting separate collection, composting, anaerobic digestion and better management of organic residues, NOW! aims to cut methane from organic waste by roughly two-thirds, avoid a measurable share of projected warming by mid-century, and create decent jobs, including for informal workers. Complementing this, the Food Waste Breakthrough initiative focuses specifically on cities and food systems. It supports local and national governments to halve food waste by 2030, reduce methane emissions along the food supply chain, and improve food security by linking climate action on waste with efforts to reduce hunger. Together, these initiatives clearly position food and organic waste management as a core component of mitigation and resilience strategies.
For the first time at a climate conference, COP30 hosted a dedicated Circular Economy Day, signalling that material flows, waste prevention and resource efficiency are becoming central pillars of climate policy rather than technical side issues. High level panels and announcements during this themed day highlighted how circular economy approaches can cut emissions across value chains by reducing primary resource extraction, extending product lifetimes and scaling up reuse and recycling. For ISWA, this mainstreaming of circularity is highly relevant, because it strengthens the link between national climate strategies and the practical work of building integrated waste and resource management systems on the ground.
In parallel, COP30 also brought stronger attention to social inclusion in waste and resource management, with a particular emphasis on the role of waste pickers. In the host city, Belém, a new mechanised public composting facility was presented as part of the conference legacy. Operated by organised waste pickers, it processes organic waste into compost, cutting methane emissions while creating formal green jobs. Investments supported by Itaipu Binacional to upgrade local recycling infrastructure likewise placed waste pickers at the centre of improved sorting and recovery systems, with better working conditions and higher material values. These examples illustrate how climate action in the waste sector can and should go hand in hand with a just transition that recognises and strengthens the contribution of informal workers.
In the broader debate on climate finance for emerging economies, the COP30 outcome again points to national climate budgets, multilateral development banks and private capital as key channels. From the ISWA standpoint, it is vital that these flows recognise waste and resource management as a priority climate action area. Investments in prevention and reuse, separate collection and treatment of organic waste, engineered landfills with gas capture, recycling infrastructure and the elimination of open dumping and open burning, composting, anaerobic digestion and Waste-to-Energy are proven options that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, limit pollution and support a just transition, especially when they integrate informal workers and vulnerable communities.
Still some unresolved issues underline the urgency of scaling up action. First, global carbon budgets consistent with a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit are extremely constrained. The COP30 outcome does not declare the 1.5-degree goal unattainable, but it does recognise the risk of exceeding this threshold and calls for any overshoot to be minimised, inviting countries to update their Nationally Determined Contributions accordingly. The ISWA Declaration argues that rapid action on waste and resource management, particularly on methane from organic waste and on open burning and uncontrolled dumping, is among the most practical ways to reduce pressure on the remaining global carbon budget. Further, the updated NDCs remain insufficient: current pledges, even if fully implemented, would deliver only a fraction of the emission reductions needed for a 1.5-degree pathway (12% vs 60% required compared to 2019), and many plans still understate the mitigation and resilience potential of waste and resource management.
In summary, COP30 showed both the limits and the potential of current climate action: while the overall outcome still falls short of a 1.5 degrees pathway, it clearly elevated waste, resource management and circular economy on the global agenda through new initiatives on organic and food waste, a dedicated Circular Economy Day, stronger recognition of waste pickers and renewed debates on climate finance. From ISWA’s perspective, the message is clear: if governments, cities, financial institutions and other partners systematically integrate waste and resource management into NDCs, adaptation plans and financing strategies, they can deliver rapid and cost effective emission reductions, strengthen resilience, support a just transition for workers and communities, and protect ecosystems – turning an underused sector into a cornerstone of effective climate policy.
