A Cooling tower; photo pexels-kelly
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 forward, outperforming 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 four GAIA 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, Brazil—host of the upcoming COP—is 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-
