Mobilising investment for NDC implementation in Peru's waste sector

The document examines the challenges and opportunities for private investment in Peru's waste sector to meet NDC goals. It evaluates specific technology options for landfills in Trujillo and San Juan Bautista, develops financial investment cases, and identifies systemic barriers such as high tax delinquency and lack of regulatory capacity. To address these, the paper proposes three priority measures: integrating waste tax collection into public utility bills, creating a national methodology for calculating waste service costs, and expanding the 'Work for Taxes' (OxI) scheme to final waste disposal infrastructure.

• Peru's waste sector is characterized by significant infrastructure deficits, with approximately 50% of generated waste sent to uncontrolled, unlined, open-air dumpsites. Out of 1,585 open-air landfills, only 27 are estimated to have the potential for transformation into formal waste disposal sites.
• Private investment in the waste sector has been limited because financial returns are unattractive without well-structured government incentives, and commercial banks perceive high risks and long payback periods for landfill construction and operation.
• For the Trujillo landfill, the most appropriate technology was identified as landfill gas capture, centralised flare, and electricity generation. This option is estimated to reduce over three million tonnes of Gg CO2-eq over the landfill's life and provides a revenue stream through the sale of renewable electricity to the grid.
• For the San Juan Bautista landfill in the Amazonian region, landfill leachate treatment through evaporation powered by captured landfill gas was determined to be the best option. This approach is estimated to reduce emissions by 95,437 tonnes of CO2-eq over 10 years and avoid over $12 million in costs associated with transporting leachate to a wastewater treatment plant.
• A critical barrier to private investment is the high rate of municipal tax delinquency for waste services, estimated at 60-70% nationally and as high as 90% in San Juan Bautista, which jeopardizes the guaranteed payment of tariffs to private operators.
• The 'Work for Taxes' (Obras por Impuestos - OxI) scheme, which allows companies to use project expenses as income tax credits, has mobilised $1,454.34 million across 401 projects, but has only been used twice for small waste management projects and never for final disposal infrastructure.
• To improve investment conditions, the paper recommends three priority measures: combining waste tax collection with public utility bills (e.g., electricity) to increase collection rates, developing a national methodology for calculating waste service costs, and creating a blueprint to apply the OxI mechanism to final waste disposal services.

APA

Ranasinghe, Y., & Fitzherbert-Brockholes, S. (2020). Mobilising investment for NDC implementation in Peru's waste sector. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SSN_Working-Paper-DIGITAL.pdf

Chicago

Ranasinghe, Yasomie, and Susannah Fitzherbert-Brockholes. Mobilising investment for NDC implementation in Peru's waste sector. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SSN_Working-Paper-DIGITAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ranasinghe |first1=Yasomie |last2=Fitzherbert-Brockholes |first2=Susannah |title=Mobilising investment for NDC implementation in Peru's waste sector |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=December 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SSN_Working-Paper-DIGITAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ranasinghe2020mobilising, author = {Ranasinghe, Yasomie and Fitzherbert-Brockholes, Susannah}, title = {{Mobilising investment for NDC implementation in Peru's waste sector}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SSN_Working-Paper-DIGITAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }