The Government of Bihar has committed to transforming itself into Net Zero State by 2070. In this effort, several leading technical agencies and organisations are helping the Bihar state towards its ambitious climate target. ICLEI South Asia, as one of the partner agencies, is supporting the state government of Bihar in strengthening its waste management profile formulating a low-carbon action plan for the waste sector.

As part of the plan, ICLEI South Asia conducted an inventorisation of the GHG emissions from the sector. Several key and relevant State departments and agencies such as the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB), Urban Development and Housing Department (UD&HD), Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (BUIDCO), Department of Industries (DOI), Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) & Bihar Panchayati Raj Department (BPRD) & Rural Development Department, Bihar (RDD), etc were consulted to understand the baseline situation of the solid and liquid waste sector and identify infrastructural, regulatory, institutional and monitoring gaps in their management systems.

In addition to interacting with line departments and agencies, the team also conducted field verification surveys in 10 Gram Panchayats (across 4 Districts – Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Nalanda, and Begusarai) and in Patna city. During these visits, the team held detailed discussions with the local community, heads of gram panchayats, district consultants, and sanitary supervisors of the Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan to understand the existing scenario of waste management in rural Bihar. The main objective of these field surveys was to observe and record on-ground waste management practices and incorporate and suggest locally appropriate waste management action through the LCAP. Based on the collected primary data and interactions with stakeholders, ICLEI South Asia has conducted a baseline assessment of solid waste management and domestic wastewater management in the State.

A State level GHG emissions inventory covering municipal solid waste, industrial wastewater, and domestic wastewater (rural & urban) for 2016-2020 has been conducted. Also, preliminary findings from the inventorisation have been shared with the Government of Bihar to be included in the State’s Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC) revision process.

The findings of the baseline report and draft GHG emissions inventory were presented during a stakeholder consultation workshop on 20^th September 2022 at the Bihar state pollution control Board office (BSPCB), Bihar. The team also presented a draft list of high-level interventions to be included in the waste sector LCAP, for getting feedback from the Government of Bihar officials. The consultation saw participation from state departments and agencies engaged in waste sector management.

Going forward, ICLEI SA’s team will be elaborating on core and enabling actions for improving Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management and Domestic Waste Water (DWW) Management system in the State. Additionally, a waste sector GHG emissions forecasting is also under work, which intends to capture sectoral GHG emissions with respect to different scenarios i.e. Business as usual (BAU) and long-term net-zero scenario development (2030 for short-term, 2050 for medium-term, and 2070 for long-term).