Methane from landfills is another climate emergency. Here’s how to fix it. 

This year is shaping up to be the hottest on record. And while carbon dioxide dominates the climate conversation, another powerful pollutant, methane, requires our urgent attention. In fact, reducing methane emissions is the single most efficient way to limit warming in our lifetimes. 

This means that as we curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, we can not forget to swiftly tackle methane emissions from landfills. At the end of the month, when world leaders meet at the COP28 climate conference, the United States can set an example by putting stronger landfill controls on the agenda to slash methane, advance our climate goals and promote healthier, safer communities.

These problems start with organic waste. As materials like banana peels and coffee grounds break down in landfills, they generate methane: a pollutant 80 times more powerful at warming the globe than carbon dioxide. Americans throw away about a third of our food each year, and new research shows food waste causes nearly 60 percent of landfill methane emissions. 

While some landfill operators control their emissions with collection systems and covers, millions of tons of methane still leak into the atmosphere from U.S. landfills each year. On top of their warming effects, landfills release noxious odors and toxic air pollutants that harm nearby residents who are often disproportionately low-income or people of color.  

Now aerial and satellite technologies are making methane more visible, uncovering super-emitting plumes at landfills across the country. In California, for example, Carbon Mapper’s flyovers found that a subset of landfills were the state’s largest methane emitters. These eyes in the sky reveal the alarming severity of our landfill problem. And they make clear the enormous opportunity we have to cut methane and advance environmental justice by curbing landfill emissions at all levels of the government. 

We have solutions. It starts with waste prevention, food donation and organics recycling. They all help avoid landfill methane generation and ensure materials are put to higher, better use, as outlined in the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently updated wasted food scale. Nine states have adopted organic waste bans, and nearly 15 million U.S. households now have access to food waste collection, sending scraps to composting facilities or digesters. 

At the same time, improving landfill gas collection and minimizing leaks is critical to cutting methane quickly from previously buried waste and protecting communities from harmful pollutants. There is growing momentum around state rulemaking to control landfill emissions, as governments strive to address the climate crisis and meet their statewide targets. 

In the past three years, Maryland, Oregon and now Washington have proposed or finalized strong landfill methane rules. California, whose landfill regulation has been on the books since 2010, is now considering improvements to its nation-leading standard. 

More will soon follow with new federal funds supercharging state and local efforts. In September, the EPA invested more than $100 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in local waste infrastructure, including organics collection and composting. EPA also made $5 billion available through the Inflation Reduction Act’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants for state, tribal and local greenhouse gas reduction strategies. If applicants include landfill methane strategies in their climate action plans due this spring, they can deliver substantial emissions reductions with significant community benefits.

This progress is exciting, but we need more to achieve our climate targets and protect communities across the country. Two years ago, the U.S. launched the Global Methane Pledge, a collective agreement to cut global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. At COP28, the U.S. can announce plans to strengthen EPA landfill standards to help fulfill the pledge, advance recent climate agreements with Canada and Mexico and bridge the gap on our economy-wide targets. 

Updated EPA standards would require nationwide use of the most up-to-date, proven and effective methods to reduce methane leaks from landfills. This is a common-sense step our country can take for the climate and our collective health, offering huge benefits, especially to environmental justice communities who live on the outskirts of landfills. 

With new methane-detecting satellites scheduled to launch early next year, this long-overlooked source of warming will only become more visible. We can get ahead of it by acting now. We must advance state and local efforts to cut landfill emissions with the help of historic federal funding and stronger EPA standards. 

Together, we can make much-needed progress on landfill methane pollution, protect people and secure a healthier and more livable future. In a warming world, there’s no time to waste.  

Gina McCarthy is the former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served as the first White House National Climate Advisor. She is the Managing Co-Chair of America Is All In.