Lowering Organic Waste Methane Initiative Supports Global Methane Pledge, COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste

Through LOW-Methane, a coalition of 30 leading global organisations is working with subnational governments and their national government counterparts to accelerate delivery of the Global Methane Pledge and the Paris Agreement by cutting at least 1 million tonnes of annual methane emissions from the waste sector well before 2030. This will require unlocking up to $10 billion in public and private investment across as many as 40 jurisdictions.

LOW-Methane will also advance the COP29 Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, which cites LOW-Methane as an example of an innovative partnership for delivering progress.  

At COP29, LOW-Methane announced significant progress on several fronts:

• First LOW-Methane Portfolios Released: LOW-Methane has developed a replicable model for jurisdictions to identify their most efficient yet ambitious opportunities for methane reduction from waste systems. Lagos and Santo Domingo released LOW-Methane Portfolios identifying ambitious waste methane targets and priority goals and actions to achieve those targets. Fully implemented, these portfolios would deliver roughly 40,800 tons of annual methane emissions reductions in 2030 in comparison to the baseline projection.
• Leveraging Cutting-Edge Data Tools: The LOW-Methane Data Team has developed a data strategy for jurisdictions focused on leveraging integrated satellite data, on-the-ground inventories, and computer models to support jurisdictions in making data-driven decisions about priority actions.  
• Identifying Finance Solutions: LOW-Methane assembled a Finance Solutions Team that brings together major multilateral development banks, bilateral development partners, international organisations and associations, non-governmental organisations, and philanthropies to identify solutions that will unlock waste methane finance at scale.

The work of LOW-Methane complements several additional announcements at COP29 that will accelerate progress on the Global Methane Pledge Waste Pathway, including significant steps by several countries to advance national waste policies and targets.

The concept for LOW-Methane was developed by the Subnational Climate Action Leaders’ Exchange (SCALE), launched at COP27.