Prof Cristina Trois

On 11 October SAAE Fellow Prof Cristina Trois, Professor in Environmental Engineering and holder of the NRF South African Research Chair in Waste and Climate Change (SARCHI) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, presented the first of the 2022 Academy Lectures in the Unite Building on the Howard College Campus of the University of KZN.  

It is estimated that the waste sector in South Africa contributes 4.4% to the total greenhouse gas emissions (NIR, 2017). However, the nexus of waste and climate change is not explicitly quantified nor addressed in current policies at national and-or at local levels. The SARChI Chair Waste and Climate Change at UKZN has been established by the Department of Science and Innovation, the NRF and the RDI Waste Roadmap to provide evidence-based research to policy makers in matters of mitigating the impacts that the waste sector has on climate change, as well as developing a climate change resilient waste management infrastructure. Prof Trois’ lecture  presented an outlook of the nexus waste and climate change for our country and its implications on the just transition towards a decarbonised and circular economy.

The lecture is available at https://youtu.be/60beg_orkG8