Waste Can Be Central to Carbon Markets – a Climate Week NYC Reflection

Last month I attended Climate Week NYC 2024, joining thousands of attendees from across the globe visiting New York for the climate action event of the year, taking place alongside the United Nations General Assembly. Heads of state, politicians, celebrities, green-tech innovators, investors, corporations and climate campaigners descended on New York to take part in over 600 Climate Week events and countless co-located events connecting this vast ecosystem.

Everyone had a singular goal – addressing the major environmental challenges humanity is confronting and designing a path forward with impactful and practical solutions that can be implemented today.

It was no surprise that the plastic and waste crises were in the discussion mix as stakeholders discussed waste management solutions that will both address the situation and future-proof companies and countries against future crises. Food waste was also an important discussion, as attendees discussed the need for cross-sector collaboration and a focus on low-waste supply loops.

While we in the waste ecosystem are focused on this issue, other major topics truly dominated the conversations at Climate Week, including energy transition and climate finance. However, one topic cut through almost every session and conversation: carbon markets.

Waste and Carbon Markets

Household waste has an enormous potential to play a role in carbon markets. The U.S. alone is responsible for over 292 million tons of waste annually, more than a third of which are organics, including food waste and unrecyclable paper. These organics, when sent to decompose in landfill, are a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 10% of all human-sourced methane emissions. By diverting waste away from landfill and finding new ways to bring waste back into productive use, we can avoid the associated emissions.

As carbon markets continue to develop, we can begin laying the foundations for waste-derived carbon credits. However, to do this, we must ensure that we set rigorous standards to ensure such credits are verifiable, accurate and help companies achieve actual climate progress.

This will require standardization of the mechanisms and methodologies to determine the emissions removal impact of waste-to-X approaches. There are several innovations in this space, including biochar, a charcoal-like substance created from burning organic material. The biogenic content of the organics is locked into the biochar, which is then used to enrich soil in agricultural applications. The ability to convert organic waste into new resources may unlock the waste sector’s potential participation in carbon markets.

To actualize this potential, we will need to accurately calculate removed and avoided emissions that can result by shifting approaches to waste management. This will require innovators focused on waste-to-value conversion to invest in life cycle assessments and certifications so that the market is built on transparency and accountability.

This development should go hand in hand with government oversight of carbon markets. Carbon markets as a climate accounting mechanism have been around for over 20 years, however, now, we are beginning to see government oversight frameworks taking shape to counter earlier flaws in the design and operation of conventional markets. The need to continue developing stricter regulations around carbon markets was highlighted throughout Climate Week, and we are seeing the US taking a leading stance on this.

A carrot-and-stick approach involving subsidies for companies investing in waste-based carbon credits, mirrored by sanctions for both providers and customers that undermine the system could secure the waste ecosystem’s participation within the broader carbon markets system. Strict regulation can level the playing field, so we achieve real, measurable climate impact rather than falling back on meaningless words and mission statements.

Innovation Can Capitalize on the Value of Waste

Innovations capitalizing on the waste emission footprint are already coming to market and are ready to fuel the waste-relevant portion of carbon markets. Waste-to-materials conversion is a prime example of this. Taking organic and unrecyclable waste that would otherwise end up in landfill, this technology converts waste into a bio-based plastic replacement that can dramatically transform the carbon footprint of everyday products from food trays and furniture to car parts and construction materials. By preserving the biogenic carbon found in organic waste within a material, we can effectively remove those emissions from the atmosphere for the long term. And by replacing conventional plastics, we also achieve a further reduction in carbon footprint and a circular solution that is economically viable.

This type of innovation, when backed by strong validation frameworks, opens the waste ecosystem to potentially massive benefits for the sector. The potential value of just one validated waste-based carbon credit could result in investment by major transnational companies who will purchase these credits at scale as part of their ESG strategies. With this level of investment, we can expect to see a monumental and needle-moving reduction in the emissions footprint of waste.

Climate Week NYC was an uplifting event, full of hope, inspiration and innovation. It painted a positive picture of what humanity can achieve when we put our minds to a shared goal. The waste crisis is too critical an issue to stand back from. There is hype around carbon markets and utilizing waste’s inherent carbon footprint can transform that hype to hope and tangible action. Markets can move mountains of problems, and we need this movement urgently to realize a clean, sustainable circular way of life for us all.

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