According to the European commission, in the third quarter of the year 2023, EU economy greenhouse gas emissions are estimated at 787 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents, a 7.1 % decrease compared with the same third quarter of the year 2022.
The greenhouse gases comprise carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and fluorinated gases. Of which, methane is the second most anthropogenic GHG that is produced due to the food waste ending up in landfills, and from other sources like oil, coal mining, water treatment and agricultural activities. These methane gas has the capability of trapping more heat in the atmosphere, that is more than 28 times as effectively as carbon dioxide does.
The road to net-zero starts with understanding the emission sources and processes. Below is a BioLaMer schematic showing the recent numbers of EU GHG emissions by various sectors.
In supporting the EU mission to cut down the emissions to at least 55% by 2030, the BioLaMer project takes a novel approach of converting food waste into biodegradable biopolymers, which in turn will reduce the emission of methane caused by food waste in landfills.