[3-4 December, 2009]

Copenhagen, Denmark

About the Conference 
The conference will be organised as a prelude to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen 7-18 December 2009; the intention is to present the main messages on how intelligent waste management plays an important role in the efforts to reduce the climate change. ISWA is organising a ’side event’ at the COP15, which intends to bring forward the main conclusions of the conference and thereby help to put waste management on the international climate agenda.

As an integrated part of the overall material flow through the economy waste management has a tremendous potential in mitigating climate change.

Thus greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided or reduced by material recycling, improved emission controls, organic carbon storage in soils and by using waste as an energy source – and of course not at least by waste prevention.

At first sight, the waste management sector’s contribution may seem relatively unimportant compared with traditional players’ emissions of greenhouse gases (energy generation, transport, industry, and agriculture). For example, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from waste management in Europe only constitute around 3% of the total emissions.  However, this figure only includes direct emissions from waste (primarily methane from landfill facilities) and not total emissions and savings associated with society’s waste management as a whole. Emissions from waste management can be reduced or avoided by waste prevention, material recycling, improved emission controls, organic carbon storage in soils and by using waste as an energy source.

The conference will seek a common understanding on the potential reductions and the various boundaries for accounting on various levels: company, local, regional, national and international. Main themes will be the IPCC report on waste management, principles of GHG accounting, global warming impacts in life-cycle-assessment modeling, international trading systems and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The conference therefore aims at bringing the sector together to form a common understanding between industry and scientists and thereby strengthening the role of the sector in future climate solutions.

Life Cycle Acting – conclusions and recommendations
The closing session will conclude on how waste management takes climate change seriously in an open and accountable way:

• What is important?
• How do regional differences affect good practice?
• What is needed to improve the contributions by waste management?
• How does waste management interact with other sectors and society?

Who should attend?
Delegates should include government officials, industries, policy makers, universities and selected experts in the field of waste management and climate change. All delegates attending are invited to discuss and contribute to the key sector messages to be delivered as conclusions from the conference at the COP15 immediately after closure, through a “side event” – organised by the ISWA Task Force

http://www.wasteandclimate.org/web/guest/home