Released last week (27 February 2025), the analysis recognises that diverting waste from landfill to biological treatment and energy recovery “significantly” reduces methane emissions.
This stands in contrast to the 2020 EU Methane Strategy, which did not mention EfW role in landfill methane abatement.
The European Suppliers of Waste-to-Energy Technology (ESWET) has welcomed the report.
Doctor Siegfried Scholz, president of ESWET, commented: “The EEA’s recognition of Waste-to-Energy in methane mitigation is a significant step forward.
“We urge policymakers to reflect this in future regulations and ensure a holistic approach that fully integrates Waste-to-Energy into the EU’s waste and climate strategies.”
An ESWET study which used Germany as a case study proved that EfW can significantly cut methane emissions. The report found that, after Germany banned landfilling of untreated organic waste in 2005 and expanded its EfW infrastructure, methane emissions from landfills decreased from 35.5 million tonnes in 1990 to 7.5 million tonnes in 2018.
The association is now calling on EU policymakers to “build on this momentum” and ensure that the upcoming revisions to waste and climate policies, including the Circular Economy Act, integrate EfW as a “key pillar of methane reduction efforts”.
EfW in the UK
EfW has growing significance as part of energy and waste management infrastructure in the UK.
This week (4 March 2025), the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) released a report which highlighted the “critical considerations” for integrating the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) into the EfW sector.
The institution shared fears that ETS will “significantly increase” the cost of generating EfW.
CIWM’s director of policy, communications and external affairs, Dan Cooke, said: “The costs passed through to EfW must reflect the actual composition of their waste in order to incentivise those who have invested in measures to reduce fossil carbon content in their waste. Failure to reward this action would mean there is no business case for change and the ETS would effectively become an EfW tax.”
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