Zero Waste Webinar: The Road to COP29
The webinar is part of a series, jointly hosted by the COP29 Presidency and the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Zero Waste, advocating for global zero-waste transitions by promoting innovative national and local initiatives. This edition will focus is on discussing global waste challenges, climate financing and climate action, particularly in the face of COP29, including discussions of effective strategies to reduce methane emissions from organic waste, enhancing resource efficiency and soil health.
According to WRI’s Systems Change Lab, in 9 of the 15 countries with the largest material footprints, per capita resource consumption is increasing. Global material resource consumption needs to decline by more than half by 2050.
The establishment of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste (the Advisory Board on Zero Waste) was announced by the Secretary-General at the High-Level Meeting on the Role of Zero Waste as a Transformative Solution in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), held during the General Assembly on 30 March 2023. The Advisory Board was established for three years. The 12 members that constitute the Advisory Board are to promote local and national zero-waste initiatives through awareness-raising, promotion of local and national zero-waste initiatives, and dissemination of best practices and success stories towards the implementation of the United Nations General Assembly resolution 77/161, that also establish the 30 March as International Day of Zero Waste.
WRI’s experts are closely following the UN climate talks. Watch our Resource Hub for new articles, research, webinars and more.
Waste problems may be effectively resolved by applying a zero-waste concept. The strategy aims to encourage the resource supply chain to be redesigned, allowing for the reuse, repurposing, refurbishing, or recycling of complete goods or by-product materials. Until we have a thorough knowledge of the inputs and outputs, what is kept in stock and for how long, and what leaks out of the system as gaseous, solid, and liquid pollutants, achieving Zero Waste in metropolitan areas will remain an idealistic goal. To assist us in making well-targeted interventions that can help us minimize waste, insight into the causes, dynamics and unique issues connected to resources, components, and products, as well as the transformation of those in the system, is required.
This webinar will explore strategies to mitigate and track emissions from municipal waste, highlighting innovative solutions and best practices to contribute to a climate-resilient future.
Speakers
- Vijay Jagannathan, Senior Fellow, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities; Secretary General, CityNet
- Faiq Mutallimov, Head of Environmental Policy, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Republic of Azerbaijan
- Girija Bharat, Managing Director, Mu Gamma Consultants; Presidential Fellow in Environmental Chemistry, George Mason University