Climate experts, policymakers and development practitioners called for transforming the waste sector into a strategic pillar of Pakistan’s climate mitigation agenda during a webinar organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad on 2 March 2026. The consultation, titled Waste Sector Emissions & Bottom-Up Policy Inputs for NDCs in Pakistan, emphasised the need for robust data systems, life-cycle based accounting and formal integration of informal waste workers to strengthen Nationally Determined Contributions implementation.
Arif Goheer, Executive Director of the Global Change Impact Studies Centre, noted that the waste sector sits at the intersection of climate science, urban governance and sustainable development yet remains a high-impact but under-recognised mitigation opportunity. He pointed to the 2024 greenhouse gas inventory under UNFCCC which attributes roughly eight per cent of Pakistan’s emissions to the waste sector, driven largely by methane emissions with strong short-term warming potential.
Pakistan generates about 45 million tonnes of municipal solid waste each year, increasing by 7 to 8 per cent annually as urbanisation and consumption patterns shift. While inventories use a national per capita figure of 0.65 kilograms per day, metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Lahore see per capita waste generation of between one and 1.25 kilograms per day. Goheer highlighted that 70 to 80 per cent of collected waste is openly dumped and that wastewater treatment coverage remains at approximately 10 per cent, creating conditions for unmanaged anaerobic decomposition and substantial methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Speakers urged a shift from bulk emissions estimates to a life-cycle approach supported by time-series data at district and municipal levels. Establishing a centralised dashboard and structured data management system was presented as essential for credible baseline setting, improved emission accounting and better access to climate finance for municipal projects aligned with NDC targets.
Zainab Naeem of SDPI’s Ecological Sustainability and Circular Economy Unit stressed the challenges facing South Asian countries where informal actors dominate the waste sector, source segregation is limited and landfill infrastructure is inadequate. She urged recognition of locally practised circular economy solutions and cautioned against relying solely on imported models as Pakistan scales mitigation and adaptation measures.
To keep momentum, SDPI proposed forming a Waste Sector Emissions Working Group to consolidate practitioner evidence, produce data-driven policy recommendations, facilitate engagement with climate institutions and provide technically informed inputs to national processes. Participants emphasised that such coordination would help translate national NDC commitments into practical municipal actions.
Dr Ayesha Khan, CEO of the Akhtar Hameed Khan Foundation, called for formal recognition of informal waste workers, noting that cooperative models remain limited by lack of legal, social and contractual status. She recommended integrating these workers as recognised contract personnel within municipal service frameworks. Rabia Razak from the International Labour Organization urged application of a just transition framework included in Pakistan’s NDC 3.0, urging stakeholders to map workers, identify sector-specific actions and ensure decent working conditions.
Representatives from the private and civil society sectors also contributed practical recommendations. Angel Imdad from a circular economy SME highlighted the need to pair mitigation with adaptation measures, increase generator awareness and strengthen corporate accountability through ESG reporting. Shibu Nair from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives advocated zero-waste models as climate action tools and recommended leveraging international methane partnerships and climate finance for cities with populations over one million.
SDPI’s consultation objective, explained by Amna Arooj, was to generate structured, evidence-based inputs aligned with local implementation realities to integrate the waste sector more fully within NDC frameworks. Participants agreed that diversion and recovery strategies could reduce landfill methane emissions by nearly 30 per cent in urban centres while delivering co-benefits including improved public health, lower air pollution, renewable energy opportunities and job creation.
Speakers concluded that aligning municipal waste management systems with national climate commitments requires institutionalised data collection, life-cycle based inventory preparation, integration of informal workers under just transition principles and structured engagement between local governments and federal climate bodies to unlock mitigation potential and climate finance for Pakistan’s cities.
