{"id":83825,"date":"2026-03-19T10:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=83825"},"modified":"2026-03-22T12:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T12:20:15","slug":"will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n.mepr-paywall-overlay {\n  position: fixed;\n  top: 0;\n  left: 0;\n  width: 100%;\n  height: 100%;\n  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);\n  align-items: center;\n  justify-content: center;\n  z-index: 9999;\n  overflow-y: auto;\n}\n\n.mepr-paywall-container {\n  box-sizing: border-box;\n  width: 100%;\n  height: auto;\n  background-color: #fff;\n  border-radius: 2px;\n  padding: 20px 15em 3em;\n  box-shadow: 0 0 20px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);\n  position: absolute;\n  top: 50%;\n  min-height: 50vh;\n  transition: all 0.3s ease-out;\n}\n\n.mepr-paywall-container.active {\n  transition: all 0.3s ease-out;\n  top: 20%;\n  min-height: 80vh;\n}\n\nbody:has(.mepr-paywall-overlay) {\n  overflow: hidden;\n}\n\n@media (max-width: 767px) {\n  .mepr-paywall-container {\n    padding-left: 40px;\n    padding-right: 40px;\n  }\n}\n<\/style><div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"mepr-paywall-overlay\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-paywall-container\">\n          <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n        <p style=\"text-align: center\"><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center\">Join us to keep reading<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Our goal is simple: to help you make sense of the policy decisions shaping the planet and what they mean for all of us.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #f39200\"><a style=\"color: #f39200\" href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/subscribe\/?utm_source=regwal\">Join free and keep reading \u2192<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">It takes less than a minute.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Or login below to unlock access if you already have an account.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><\/p>\n      <\/div>\n              <div class=\"mepr-login-form-wrap\">\n                    \n<div class=\"mp_wrapper mp_login_form\">\n              <div><\/div>    <!-- mp-login-form-start -->     <form name=\"mepr_loginform\" id=\"mepr_loginform\" class=\"mepr-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/login\/\" method=\"post\">\n            <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_username\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n                              <label for=\"user_login\">Username or E-mail<\/label>\n        <\/div>\n        <input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" value=\"\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_password\">\n        <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n          <label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n          <div class=\"mp-hide-pw\">\n            <input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" value=\"\" \/>\n            <button type=\"button\" class=\"button mp-hide-pw hide-if-no-js\" data-toggle=\"0\" aria-label=\"Show password\">\n              <span class=\"dashicons dashicons-visibility\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span>\n            <\/button>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n      \n<div class=\"mp-form-row mepr_math_captcha\">\n    <div class=\"mp-form-label\">\n        <label for=\"mepr_math_quiz\">\n            <span id=\"mepr_math_captcha-69e590e267c64\"><\/span>*\n        <\/label>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <input type=\"text\" name=\"mepr_math_quiz\" id=\"mepr_math_quiz\" value=\"\" class=\"mepr-form-input\" \/>\n    <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_math_data\" value=\"ZSSMWUpHm2eRiVTVudLerbfkVZm1v9rzAGX\/Cr20y+E=\" \/>\n\n    <script>\n    function mepr_base64_decode(encodedData) {\n        var decodeUTF8string = function(str) {\n            \/\/ Going backwards: from bytestream, to percent-encoding, to original string.\n            return decodeURIComponent(str.split('').map(\n                function(c) {\n                    return '%' + ('00' + c.charCodeAt(0).toString(16)).slice(-2)\n                })\n                .join('')\n            )\n        }\n\n        if (typeof window !== 'undefined') {\n            if (typeof window.atob !== 'undefined') {\n                return decodeUTF8string(window.atob(encodedData))\n            }\n        } else {\n            return new Buffer(encodedData, 'base64').toString('utf-8')\n        }\n\n        var b64 = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+\/='\n        var o1\n        var o2\n        var o3\n        var h1\n        var h2\n        var h3\n        var h4\n        var bits\n        var i = 0\n        var ac = 0\n        var dec = ''\n        var tmpArr = []\n\n        if (!encodedData) {\n            return encodedData\n        }\n\n        encodedData += ''\n        do {\n            \/\/ unpack four hexets into three octets using index points in b64\n            h1 = b64.indexOf(encodedData.charAt(i++))\n            h2 = b64.indexOf(encodedData.charAt(i++))\n            h3 = b64.indexOf(encodedData.charAt(i++))\n            h4 = b64.indexOf(encodedData.charAt(i++))\n            bits = h1 << 18 | h2 << 12 | h3 << 6 | h4\n            o1 = bits >> 16 & 0xff\n            o2 = bits >> 8 & 0xff\n            o3 = bits & 0xff\n\n            if (h3 === 64) {\n                tmpArr[ac++] = String.fromCharCode(o1)\n            } else if (h4 === 64) {\n                tmpArr[ac++] = String.fromCharCode(o1, o2)\n            } else {\n                tmpArr[ac++] = String.fromCharCode(o1, o2, o3)\n            }\n        } while (i < encodedData.length)\n\n        dec = tmpArr.join('')\n        return decodeUTF8string(dec.replace(\/\\0+$\/, ''))\n    }\n\n    jQuery(document).ready(function() {\n        var el = document.getElementById(\"mepr_math_captcha-69e590e267c64\")\n        el.innerHTML = mepr_base64_decode(\"OCArIDMgZXF1YWxzPw==\");\n    });\n    <\/script>\n<\/div>\n      <div>\n        <label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label>\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n      <div class=\"submit\">\n        <input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button-primary mepr-share-button \" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83825\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_process_login_form\" value=\"true\" \/>\n        <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"mepr_is_login_page\" value=\"false\" \/>\n      <\/div>\n    <\/form>\n    <div class=\"mp-spacer\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n    <div class=\"mepr-login-actions\">\n        <a\n          href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/login\/?action=forgot_password\"\n          title=\"Click here to reset your password\"\n        >\n          Forgot Password        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n      \n    <!-- mp-login-form-end --> \n  <\/div>\n              <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays","protected":false},"author":6738,"featured_media":83826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[607,3861],"tags":[],"project_category":[],"membership_period":[5489],"coauthors":[5661],"class_list":["post-83825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carbon-markets","category-comment","membership_period-forever-free"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Home News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/janek.vahk.9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Janek Vahk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ClimateHome\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ClimateHome\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Janek Vahk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Janek Vahk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68\"},\"headline\":\"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":676,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Carbon markets\",\"Comment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/\",\"name\":\"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68\"},\"description\":\"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Waste from Rome is stored for incineration, after the Amsterdam Waste and Energy Company (AEB) made a deal with Rome, in Amsterdam, Netherlands June 5, 2023. REUTERS\\\/Piroschka van de Wouw\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Home News\",\"description\":\"Climate change news, analysis, commentary, video and podcasts focused on developments in global climate politics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68\",\"name\":\"Janek Vahk\",\"description\":\"Janek Vahk is a circular economy and sustainability expert working to accelerate Europe\u2019s transition to a zero-waste society. He is the Zero Pollution Policy Manager at Zero Waste Europe, where he focuses on landfills and waste incineration, and on the interlinkages between climate and waste policies.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/zerowasteeurope.eu\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/janek.vahk.9\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/janekvahk\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/janek-vhk-00407332\\\/?locale=en\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.climatechangenews.com\\\/author\\\/janek-vahk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?","description":"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?","og_description":"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays","og_url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/","og_site_name":"Climate Home News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ClimateHomeNews\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/janek.vahk.9","article_published_time":"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Janek Vahk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ClimateHome","twitter_site":"@ClimateHome","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Janek Vahk","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/"},"author":{"name":"Janek Vahk","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68"},"headline":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?","datePublished":"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/"},"wordCount":676,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Carbon markets","Comment"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/","name":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-19T10:26:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-22T12:20:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68"},"description":"A decision by Brussels to bring refuse incineration into the EU Emissions Trading System would restore a basic principle: the polluter pays","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-content\/files\/2026\/03\/2023-12-07T160411Z_1586994718_RC2WC1AMH22I_RTRMADP_3_ITALY-NETHERLANDS-WASTE-1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Waste from Rome is stored for incineration, after the Amsterdam Waste and Energy Company (AEB) made a deal with Rome, in Amsterdam, Netherlands June 5, 2023. REUTERS\/Piroschka van de Wouw"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2026\/03\/19\/will-the-eu-finally-make-waste-pay-for-its-growing-carbon-footprint\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will the EU finally make waste pay for its growing carbon footprint?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/","name":"Climate Home News","description":"Climate change news, analysis, commentary, video and podcasts focused on developments in global climate politics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/dd8247e2089d5d99c907ab71cf1e3c68","name":"Janek Vahk","description":"Janek Vahk is a circular economy and sustainability expert working to accelerate Europe\u2019s transition to a zero-waste society. He is the Zero Pollution Policy Manager at Zero Waste Europe, where he focuses on landfills and waste incineration, and on the interlinkages between climate and waste policies.","sameAs":["http:\/\/zerowasteeurope.eu","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/janek.vahk.9","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/janekvahk\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/janek-vhk-00407332\/?locale=en"],"url":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/author\/janek-vahk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6738"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83825"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83894,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83825\/revisions\/83894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83825"},{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=83825"},{"taxonomy":"membership_period","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/membership_period?post=83825"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=83825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}