Through a collaboration with the government of Uzbekistan and a privately owned gas distribution company in Uzbekistan, Climate Compass, LLC designed and conducted a leak detection program that, in only 3 months, repaired over 55,000 individual methane leaks from gas facilities across the country. This initiative is expected to save nearly 400 million cubic meters of natural gas per year, preventing almost 8 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the atmosphere.

Presentation from the March 2025 GMI Biogas Subcommittee meeting in Brasilia, Brazil.

In 2024, the Global Methane Initiative (GMI) Biogas Subcommittee hosted a four-part workshop series: Mobilizing Methane Action at Open Dumpsites and Landfills. This workshop series was developed in partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the International Solid Waste Association, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and focused on exploring policies, technologies, and tools and resources, aimed at reducing methane emissions from municipal solid waste. The intended audience of the series included national and subnational decision-makers and policymakers, waste professionals, waste facility operators, project developers, international development professionals, financial institutions interested in funding waste methane mitigation projects, and students and academics.

First workshop: 
Global Opportunities and Strategies for Addressing Landfill Methane
23 January 2024

Speakers discussed mitigating methane emissions from open dumpsites and landfills and reviewed case studies that highlight effective initiatives to reduce methane emissions. Participants gained insights into the urgency for action and the global potential associated with the reduction of methane emissions from landfills, such as environmental and health co-benefits. The workshop also explored the practical dimensions of mitigating methane at dumpsites, emphasizing key phases essential for successful projects.

Speakers

• Moderator: Matt Hamilton, Manager, Waste Sector GHG Reduction, Environment and Climate Change Canada, GMI Biogas Subcommittee Co-Chair
• Aditi Ramola, Technical Director at the International Solid Waste Association
• James Law, Vice President at SCS Engineers

Second workshop: 
Methane Mitigation Project Phases, Practical Solutions, and GHG Emission Quantification|
5 March 2024

Speakers discussed the practical dimensions of methane mitigation at large open dumpsites, focusing on the key phases of successful methane mitigation projects, and environmental justice considerations for dumpsite closure.

Speakers

• Moderator: Matt Hamilton, Manager, Waste Sector GHG Reduction, Environment and Climate Change Canada, GMI Biogas Subcommittee Co-Chair
• Mariel Vilella, Global Climate Program Director, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
• Dr. Ali R. Abedini, President, Methane Expert Engineering  

Third workshop: 
Understanding Your Waste Stream to Develop Methane Reduction Strategies
16 May 2024

Speakers focused on waste characterization as a means to mitigate methane emissions. In Part 1, participants gained insights into the GMI Waste Characterization Handbook: Understanding Municipal Waste Streams to Develop Data-Driven Methane Mitigation Strategies and the accompanying GMI Waste Characterization Tool, developed by the U.S. EPA. The Handbook provides additional recommended activities and resources to help cities best determine how to measure their waste, collect data, and make informed solid waste planning decisions that achieve methane reductions and other benefits. The tool allows users to analyze the composition of different waste streams. Part 2 explored waste characterization in practice in Canada, in support of their inventory of greenhouse gas emissions and modeling of methane generation, and Wisconsin, to evaluate effectiveness of laws (e.g., ban on electronics landfilling), and support future initiatives such as reducing disposal of food waste in landfills.

Speakers

• Moderator: Carlos Silva Filho, President of the International Solid Waste Association
• Klara Zimmerman, Program Manager at the U.S. EPA
• Sandra Mazo-Nix, Solid Waste Senior Associate at Abt Global
• Hussein Zaki, Project Engineer at Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Casey Krausensky, Solid Waste Coordinator at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 

Fourth workshop: 
Source Segregation of Waste: Key to Methane Reduction from the Waste Sector
26 June 2024

The fourth webinar focused on source segregation of waste, which plays a crucial role in mitigating methane emissions. Effective source segregation, such as separating organic from the inorganic materials in the waste stream, enables the diversion and valorization of organic waste. This practice reduces the amount of methane-generating organic material sent to disposal sites like landfills or dumps. This webinar presented several examples of source segregation of waste as part of sustainable waste management practices, with perspectives from a variety of governments and non-governmental organizations.

Speakers

• Introduction/Moderator: Patrick CoatarPeter, Environmental Policy Analyst, U.S. EPA
• Luis Vallejo, Coordinator, Waste Management and Circular Economy Project (Greci), Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (Ecuador)
• Aditi Ramola, Technical Director, ISWA
• Jeremy Douglas, Director of Global Partnerships, Delterra
• Mariano Kristoff, Project Lead, Behaviour Change, Delterra

On 29 September 2022, GMI and CCAC released a joint statement to summarize the importance of the Forum as a call to action.

On 20 March 2024, GMI, UNECE, Global Methane Hub, and CCAC released a joint press release to summarize the importance of the Forum as a call to action.

Recognizes the achievements of GMI Partners and confirms the GMI's commitment to incentivize scientific and technological innovations on monitoring, measuring and mitigating methane, as well as facilitating access to financing and investment resources.

Distributed during the 2016 Global Methane Forum, the communiqué reaffirmed the Partners' commitment to the Initiative and announced the rechartering of GMI for the next five years to address methane. The communique also described the formation of strategic alliances with CCAC and UNECE to expand international collaboration to reduce global methane emissions.

Fact sheet that describes how GMI provides cost-free technical, policy, and programmatic methane mitigation support to Partner Countries.

Fact sheet that describes how GMI provides methane action in key industry sectors.

Working with CCAC in 2013, Bangladesh developed a plan for reducing short-lived climate pollutants, including methane. Between 2016 and 2018, efforts focused on capacity building for the plan's adoption, followed by development of a work plan for implementation. Bangladesh determined its most impactful actions were introducing clean-burning biomass cooking stoves, replacing traditional kilns with modern technologies, and phasing out high emission vehicles.

Partners

• Global Methane Initiative (GMI)
• Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC)