December 1st, 2023: The Global Methane Hub, GHGSat and SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) are collaborating on new projects aimed at reducing methane emissions from waste sites.
Methane is an invisible yet powerful greenhouse gas responsible for around a quarter of all man-made global warming. It is estimated that up to 18% of methane emissions come from waste dumps. As the gas stays in the atmosphere for a relatively short time – around 10 years – cutting these emissions presents a viable near-term opportunity to slow the rate of global warming.
Although it is known that the volume of gas released by landfills varies, with local factors such as the structure of a dump, rainfall and temperature all having an effect, hard data on emissions is scarce.
To address this, GHGSat has been collaborating with SRON and The Global Methane Hub since 2023, studying, characterising, and monitoring landfills worldwide. This experience has now led to the creation of two new projects, both designed to turn space data into remedial action on the ground.
TWOS – Supporting local action
Targeting Waste emissions Observed from Space (TWOS) follows on from a pilot programme studying four landfills, launched at COP27. ‘We demonstrated that not only can we monitor emissions over time, but we were also able to pinpoint the largest sources on the landfill,’ says Bram Maasakkers (SRON).
The new project will see SRON, GHGSat and the Global Methane Hub work with local governments and landfill operators to reduce methane emissions from ten sites in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Satellite data, including high-resolution imagery from GHGSat’s constellation, will be used to identify facilities with the largest mitigation potential. These will then be monitored on a monthly basis, for three years, to build a detailed picture of their emissions over time. This insight will ultimately help local partners target mitigation efforts for maximum effect.
WasteMAP – For waste emissions opportunities
The Waste Methane Assessment Platform (WasteMAP), a joint Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and Clean Air Task Force project, is an open online platform bringing together waste methane emissions data with decision support tools for decisions makers in the waste sector. The platform is also supported with in-country engagement work, which provides capacity building and technical assistance in advanced monitoring, methane mitigation, capture, and utilization measures to national and subnational stakeholders. SRON supplies the satellite emission data, including GHGSat measurements of the ten landfills from the TWOS project to WasteMAP. The project launched at COP28 on 1st December.
TWOS and WasteMAP are both funded by the Global Methane Hub.
