Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Sanitation Service Chain and the Global Climate Impacts

Greenhouse Gas emissions from sanitation systems are not well understood, particularly emissions from sanitation infrastructure in LMICs. Historical emissions factors are currently promoted for country reporting, which may be underestimating the true climate effects of GHG emissions from the Sanitation Service Chain. This is important to understand, since my early research has shown that underestimated emissions from Road-Based Sanitation Systems could potentially cause a best estimate temperature anomaly difference of 0.088 degree C in 2100, and an upper range of 0.173 degree C, when compared to the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP2-4.5 baseline projection, when an impulse of forgotten GHG emissions from sanitation are added in 2020. The uncertainty ranges that produce the

GHG estimates used in the modelling, and which produce this higher-temperature anomaly value of

0.173 degree C in 2100 cannot be refined to an acceptable degree using current emissions accounting methods. Ergo, critical information, data and a general understanding of sanitation emissions is missing in the global knowledge-base. Simple technological choices or solutions already available to mitigate these emissions may be missed during sanitation project implementation phases, since climate-backed data to aid planning does not exist.

The project will be carried out through a three-pronged approach:

-Desk-based project work to run initial climate models to refine initial findings, to complete a systematic review of GHG emissions from sanitation systems, and to further refine climate projects against suitable baselines once more information has been gained through the PhD.

-Laboratory studies to test portable gas measuring technologies which could be used in both HICS and LMICs to improve emissions measurement data from a range of SSC elements, and to create technologies and methodologies needed for the PhD.

-Fieldwork to test these new methodologies, collect data from previously under-valued sanitation GHG sources, and to inform the final climate modelling: A key impact output of the PhD.