On World Environment Day 2026, EPIC India joined partners from Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), and WRI Indonesia to launch the Asia Waste Methane Comparative Analysis, a six-country study examining waste methane management across Asia and identifying pathways to accelerate methane mitigation through stronger policy, governance, financing, and regional collaboration.
This comparative analysis of South Korea, Japan, China, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia highlights the diverse approaches, policy frameworks, and challenges associated with waste methane management across the region. Collectively, these countries contribute a significant share of regional emissions. India’s waste sector, in particular, is marked by rapid growth, high organic waste content, and considerable treatment gaps, with landfills and wastewater serving as the primary sources of methane emissions. The findings underscore the importance of bottom-up learning and operational experience in developing effective and scalable methane mitigation solutions. The report was launched during a webinar co-hosted by the SFOC, IGES, EPIC India and WRI Indonesia.
The launch webinar started with a presentation by EPIC India’s Suyash Nandgaonkar, Senior Research and Policy Associate, who presented findings from the report’s comparative analysis of waste methane across India, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Japan, and South Korea. His presentation highlighted a key regional trend: wastewater methane emissions often exceed those from solid waste, with country-specific factors such as palm oil mill effluent in Malaysia and wastewater treatment gaps in India and Indonesia shaping national emissions profiles. He also examined what has worked across the region, including incentive-based waste collection systems, biogas recovery, and engineered landfill management, and underscored the importance of addressing operational and governance gaps alongside infrastructure investments.
“Across Asia, we see that incentives matter more than mandates, and that policy success ultimately depends on how systems operate on the ground. The region already has proven models; what we need now is the architecture to replicate and scale them,” said Suyash Nandgaonkar.
This was followed by a presentation on the rationale and key takeaways from the study by Sanghyun Ma from Solutions for Our Climate. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion, which included EPIC India’s Senior Manager (Research and Policy), Swarna Dutt, Ngoc-Bao Pham of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and Huma Qazi of auctusESG.
The discussion was chaired by Miho Hayashi of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and explored what it takes to move beyond pilot projects and achieve large-scale methane reductions. Key enablers identified included centrally funded mission-mode programmes, performance-linked financing, regulatory mandates that create reliable feedstock streams, dedicated monitoring systems, co-digestion policies that improve project economics, and demand-side incentives for wastewater reuse. These lessons, drawn from experiences across Asia, point to the importance of combining technology with strong institutions, effective implementation, and long-term policy commitment.
The report’s India chapter was presented by Swarna Dutt, Senior Manager (Research and Policy) at EPIC India, during the panel discussion on scaling waste methane mitigation. Drawing on the chapter’s findings, she highlighted that India generates approximately 56 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions annually from waste-related methane, largely from unmanaged or undertreated industrial wastewater, landfills, and domestic wastewater streams. This is projected to reach 165 Mt by 2030.
“India already has much of the infrastructure and institutional capacity needed to reduce waste methane at scale. The next step is to bring an explicit methane lens to existing missions, strengthen measurement systems, and connect these gains to climate targets and financing opportunities,” said Swarna Dutt.
The Asia Waste Methane Comparative Analysis demonstrates that while countries face distinct challenges, many of the solutions are transferable. By bringing together evidence and practical lessons from across the region, the report provides a roadmap for accelerating methane reduction while supporting cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable cities across Asia. The webinar was well attended by a global audience and marks the first step towards a collaborative approach to tackle methane emissions across Asia.
Read the full report here.