COP21 Paris Climate Conference. Credit: COP PARIS/Flickr.
EV highlighted technologies that are commercial today that can turn the world’s organic wastes into clean low carbon energy and compost – technologies that can help member nations meet the Paris Climate Goals to limit global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
EV received special consultative status with ECOSOC last summer enabling our organization to provide expert analysis on the organic waste-to-fuel strategy to leaders around the world through the global UN network.
Trapping methane from organic wastes via anaerobic digestion is a crucial strategy for meeting the world’s climate goals. According to a global methane assessment report by the UN, about 60% of global methane emissions result from human activity, and human-caused methane must be cut by 45% this decade to keep warming beneath the threshold agreed to by world leaders. Methane is recognized as having a warming potential 84 times that of carbon dioxide over two decades. When manures and food wastes are the feedstocks for digesters, more greenhouse gases are captured in producing renewable natural gas fuel than are ever emitted by heavy duty buses or trucks burning it. RNG fuel is the only fuel today achieving a superb “carbon-negative” result!
The organic material left over in anaerobic digestors after gas removal, is also valuable. It can be used as a nutrient-rich soil amendment that can displace chemical fertilizers.
Energy Vision’s recommendations were published ahead of the 2021 ECOSOC High-level Segment held from 13 to 16 July 2021. Read our full statement.
