Suggestions on Landfill Carbon Emission Accounting Standards in China

Abstract

Landfill, one of the major approaches for waste treatment in China, is a significant source of carbon emissions; compiling landfill carbon emission accounting standards in China will support the construction of a statistical accounting system for carbon emissions and promote the achievement of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. This study reviews the research progress of landfill carbon emission accounting standards and guidelines in China and abroad, analyzes the challenges faced by the development of these standards in China, and proposes relevant development suggestions based on an in-depth discussion of the baseline methodology for the standards and the priority tasks for compilation. The international standards and guidelines currently available for reference are not fully applicable to China’s landfill carbon emission accounting, and there is a lack of standardized and unified landfill carbon emission accounting methodology as well as reliable accounting inventory data in China. Therefore, based on the waste characteristics and technical status of landfills in China, recommendations for carbon emission accounting methodology, scope, and inventory are proposed, priorities for the standards compilation are clarified, and approaches for obtaining inventory data applicable to China’s landfill scenarios are provided. Subsequently, regional factors can be fully considered and characteristic data of China can be adopted in order to obtain landfill carbon emission accounting results that are more in line with the actual situation, and the compilation of landfill carbon emission accounting standards in China can be carried out accordingly.

Keywords

• landfill, carbon emission, standards, accounting methodology, inventory data