Global Study Proves Incinerators Worsen Climate Impacts while Communities Push for Just Solutions
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-04 September 2025 From Asia to Latin America to Africa, communities are at the frontlines of both climate impacts and the fight against false solutions in waste management. A new report released by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), launched this Second Climate Week in Africa, demonstrates that zero waste offers the clearest, most effective path forwardoutperforming incineration and other business-as-usual practices in reducing long-term climate impacts.
The publication,Zero Waste as an Effective Climate Strategy: Avoiding Warming Tradeoffs from Incineration, is one of the fourGAIA Technical Guidance Series for Policymakers and Financiers on Fast Action on Waste and Methane. It examines the long-term global warming impacts of three waste management approaches: open dumping and landfilling, waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration, and zero waste systems that include source separation, composting, and recycling.
Drawing from case studies in Lagos, Nigeria; Barueri, Brazil; and Quezon City, Philippines, the report applies the Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool (SWEET) and the FaIR climate model to project temperature outcomes through 2060. The findings are irrefutable: zero waste is the most effective and resilient strategy to reduce climate impacts from the waste sector. Unlike incineration, which trades short-term methane reductions for increased carbon dioxide emissions, zero waste delivers rapid methane cuts without creating new warming problems.
Beyond the data, the report spotlights how frontline communities in all three regions are resisting incinerator projects and advancing decentralized zero waste systems. These movements show how climate solutions can deliver environmental justice, social co-benefits, and a just transition for wastepickers.
The report comes at a pivotal moment. In Latin America, Brazilhost of the upcoming COPis facing local battles over incineration even as it positions itself as a climate leader. In Asia, cities like Manila are at the forefront of both incineration threats and zero waste innovation. And in Africa, governments are weighing climate finance options that will determine whether communities are locked into polluting infrastructure or supported in building resilient zero waste systems.
For GAIA, the message is clear: Zero Waste offers the fastest, fairest, and most cost-effective way to cut methane emissions, and it must be at the center of global climate strategies.
https://www.no-burn.org/tech-guide-waste-methane/
Presscon recording:https://youtu.be/fpq_ubiaTCo
SPEAKERS QUOTES:
The Global Methane Pledge is a promise we cannot afford to break. Our findings show that zero waste delivers the rapid methane reductions the world needs to meet climate targets, without the carbon penalty of incineration. If governments are serious about keeping warming under 1.5C, zero waste must be at the heart of their plans heading into COP30. -Neil Tangri, Science and Policy Director of GAIA
Communities in Africa are rejecting incinerators because we see firsthand the toxic smoke, the health risks, and the debt they bring. We deserve climate solutions that clean our air, not poison it. Zero waste programs protect our childrens health, create real jobs, and keep decision-making in the hands of local people. -Weyinmi Okotie, GAIA Africa
Waste pickers have been the backbone of recycling in our cities for decades. As validated by these findings, they are already showing us real climate solutions. Supporting zero waste also means dignity, stable livelihoods, and a just transition for workers. Incineration does the opposite by burning this all away. -Brex Arevalo, Climate and Anti-Incineration Campaigner,GAIA Asia Pacific
As Brazil prepares to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) 30, we have a chance to show the world that climate leadership means rejecting dirty technologies. Investing in zero waste can slash methane emissions, create thousands of green jobs, and align with Brazils pledge to protect our people and our planet. - Rafael Eudes, Zero Waste Alliance Brazil
Cutting methane quickly is critical to slowing climate change, and zero waste strategies give us the tools to do it without causing new problems. Incinerators may look like an easy fix, but they simply swap one greenhouse gas for another and lock communities into decades of pollution. - Mariel Vilella, the Global Climate Program Director of GAIA