Methane from the waste sector contributes to 20% of annual global methane emissions. Given that the Asia region is undergoing rapid urbanization, population growth and rising consumption, it is expected that waste generation and waste methane emissions will continue to rise in the next few years. Therefore, it is critical for the region to address waste emissions as a region.

As a first step, the report identifies a comparative analysis on waste methane management across six Asian countries (South Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India) by examining emission sources, policy frameworks and implementation practices. While these six countries could not represent the entire Asian landscape, nevertheless the comparisons show the significant disparities in capacities, finance and waste management practices.

From the country comparisons, the report identifies priority areas and modes of regional collaboration to accelerate methane mitigation in the waste sector. These are centered on awareness-building, knowledge exchange, pilot project deployment and scale-up, policy integration, and strengthened emissions monitoring systems.