The world is not on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Not because ambition is lacking or the science is unclear. We have the evidence and the solutions. We also have an increasingly clear understanding of the problem and the consequences of inaction.
The challenge lies elsewhere.
Too often, climate action is discussed in the language of negotiations, targets and technical frameworks that can feel distant from people’s daily lives. People do not experience climate change through nationally determined contributions, net-zero pathways, methane pledges or carbon markets. They experience it through rising food prices, water scarcity, mounting waste, more frequent and intense floods, extreme heat and growing pressure on livelihoods.
Perhaps no other global issue has generated more commitments than climate change. Yet lasting progress depends on action on the ground. Climate action succeeds when people from all walks of life can see it, touch it and participate in it.
Waste is universally understood. Everyone produces waste and everyone experiences its consequences, whether a household, a business or a city. Unlike a carbon market or a methane pledge, waste does not require translation. It is already part of everyday life.
This is what makes Zero Waste a powerful climate solution. It translates climate ambition into actions that people, businesses and communities can participate in. In doing so, it helps bridge one of the greatest challenges facing climate action today: turning global commitments into meaningful change in people’s everyday lives.
Zero Waste provides a practical approach to climate action that strengthens and connects multiple sectors and themes under the UN’s Global Climate Action Agenda. It is a bridge between high-level climate goals and the everyday lived experiences of people and communities facing the direct impacts of climate change – from farmers reducing food loss and protecting scarce water resources, to informal waste workers gaining safer livelihoods, and cities improving public health through cleaner and more resilient urban systems.
Zero Waste is not just about waste management. In fact, it is the last intervention in the ladder of the Zero Waste approach.
Zero Waste prevents waste generation at the source. It keeps materials and products in use for as long as possible. Zero Waste reimagines what we consider “waste.” It helps reduce the massive amounts of fossil fuels burned to extract, process and ship brand-new raw materials, stops plastics and chemical pollution from choking natural habitats, and composts food scraps that would otherwise produce harmful methane gas into rich soil that grows better food and captures more carbon.
Cities free of overflowing trash dumps and clogged drains are less prone to flooding and disease. Dumping or burning trash disproportionately hurts lower-income communities. Zero Waste builds healthier communities and creates local jobs in repair, reuse and recycling.
Funding Zero Waste programmes helps channel investments away from polluting mega-projects and into green, circular economies. It drives new technology and educates the public on sustainable habits. Zero Waste tackles water scarcity, hunger and energy demands.
Just take food loss and waste, for example.
Zero Waste fights hunger by rescuing perfectly good food from the trash. Humanity wastes over 1 billion tonnes of food every year, which amounts to roughly 1 billion meals wasted every single day. Cutting down on global food waste can feed up to 2 billion hungry people. This is more than double the estimated 783 million people currently facing chronic hunger globally.
Food waste alone is responsible for about 8-10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. And some estimates suggest that a land area larger than China is used each year to grow food that is never eaten, putting immense pressure on ecosystems and contributing to biodiversity loss and wasted water.
Yet research has suggested that for every $1 invested in food loss and waste reduction, a $14 return can be achieved.
A Zero Waste approach for food waste and loss means strengthening the capacities of farmers and improving infrastructure so food can be grown, handled and stored more efficiently, with less loss and better yields. And instead of sending food waste to landfills, a Zero Waste approach promotes composting or using it as fertilizer or animal feed, so that its value is returned to the system.
The same extends to other forms of waste, from waste in electronics and plastics to textile and use of materials in general.
Zero Waste reminds us that meaningful climate progress will not come from negotiations alone. The message is clear: tackling waste at source is one of the most accessible, equitable, and effective ways to deliver sustainable and transformative climate outcomes.
Zero Waste makes climate action visible and tangible. When people can take part in it directly, and when they can feel the benefits in their own lives, that is where sustainable transformation begins.
- The writer, Samed Agırbas, is a climate high-level champion and the president of The Zero Waste Foundation.
