COP29: Belgium signs declaration to reduce methane emissions from organic waste
Belgium has joined 34 other countries in signing a declaration to reduce methane emissions from organic waste. The move was announced on Tuesday by the Presidency of the UN Climate Change Conference COP29.
The 35 signatory countries commit to include targets to reduce methane emissions in the waste sector in their new national climate plans due next year. They will also have to come up with concrete measures and a roadmap to reach their targets.
In addition to Belgium, the signatories include South Korea, Japan, Russia, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. Together, they account for 47 per cent of methane emissions from organic waste. Such waste is the third largest source of methane emissions after agriculture and fossil fuels.
The new commitment builds on the Global Methane Pledge made at COP26 in Glasgow. This pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 compared to 2020 was signed by 159 countries, including Belgium.
Little progress
The deal is one of the few bright spots at a COP where progress has been hard to come by. After more than a week of negotiations, countries are no closer to a compromise. COP29 is due to end on Friday, but developed and developing countries are still trying to agree on a new collective climate finance target.
On Monday, COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev urged negotiators to speed up. "Some people have expressed concern about the state of the negotiations. Let's be clear, I am also concerned that parties are not moving fast enough," he said. "It's time to move faster."
"If you look at the geopolitical context, it is certainly difficult. But when has it ever been easy?"
The re-election of Donald Trump as US president is also looming over the conference. Trump withdrew his country from the Paris climate agreement in his first term, and is expected to do so again when he begins his second term in January.
"If you look at the geopolitical context, it is certainly difficult," said Wopke Hoekstra, the Dutch commissioner who is leading the team of European negotiators. "But when has it ever been easy? I believe we can and should achieve a good result at the end of this week."
© PHOTO WILLIAM WEST / AFP
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