Project goal: Waste management that limits methane gas emissions

Project type: A model waste facility

Project volume: International Climate Initiative investment of 3.2 million euros ($4 million)

CO2 savings: Methane equivalent to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide to be saved within the next 20 years

China’s garbage dumps are overflowing. Waste management is a serious problem in the country’s megacities, with much of it ending up on illegal landfills. As part of a German-led project in Gaobeidian near Beijing, a new facility has been built that’s designed to curb methane emissions – which are 20 times as toxic as carbon dioxide. Over the next 20 years, the project will save an amount of methane equivalent to 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide. And project officials hope to set the ball rolling across China.

A report by Ariane Reimers