MUSCAT: Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (be’ah) is expanding its carbon-management efforts into a potentially significant new revenue stream by developing carbon credits from greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission reductions across its waste-management operations, with landfill gas (LFG) recovery emerging as a key pillar of the strategy.
The initiative is anchored by be’ah’s Carbon Management Framework, established to cover the full carbon lifecycle — from emissions measurement and reduction planning to carbon-credit registration and verification, issuance and eventual financial integration. The framework is structured around five phases: carbon accounting; identification of reduction opportunities and projects; carbon-credit registration and verification; issuance, sale and retirement of credits; and accounting and financial integration.
The framework follows be’ah's completion of its 2024 GHG inventory, which put combined Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions at 1.285 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e). Scope 1 emissions accounted for 1.279 million tCO₂e, while Scope 2 emissions stood at 6,672 tCO₂e.
The inventory identified solid-waste disposal sites as by far the largest emissions source, accounting for 91.9 per cent of Scope 1 emissions. Mobile combustion, primarily associated with the municipal solid-waste collection fleet, contributed another 4.9 per cent, while flaring accounted for 1.5 per cent.
These findings have directed be’ah decarbonisation efforts towards landfill methane — a potent GHG generated through the decomposition of organic waste. Capturing the gas instead of allowing it to escape and subsequently flaring or utilising it, creates measurable emission reductions that can potentially be converted into tradable carbon credits. be’ah has previously partnered with OQ Trading (OQT) — the global marketing arm of OQ Group — to identify carbon-credit opportunities and support project development, certification, verification and marketing.
Two LFG recovery projects at the Al Multaqa and Barka landfills were registered under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard in 2024 as projects #4544 and #4550. The Al Multaqa project received credits for 2021 and 2022, while Barka received credits for 2022.
The carbon-credit programme is now being complemented by efforts to convert recovered landfill gas into useful energy. At Al Multaqa, an existing flaring system with a capacity of 2,000 Nm³/hr has an estimated LFG recovery potential of around 430 Nm³/hr and electricity-generation potential of approximately 460 kW. At Barka, the corresponding figures are 2,500 Nm³/hr of flaring capacity, around 530 Nm³/hr of recoverable gas and approximately 600 kW of potential electricity generation.
The projects are designed to move beyond methane destruction towards productive utilisation, including on-site electricity generation and potentially electricity exports at full recovery capacity. By end-2025, overall progress on the Al Multaqa and Barka utilisation projects had reached around 55 per cent, with the projects scheduled for completion in July 2026.
With landfill emissions accounting for the overwhelming majority of be’ah measured GHG footprint, the company’s carbon-credit strategy offers a route to link Oman’s waste-management transition with climate finance — turning methane abatement, resource recovery and energy generation into quantifiable environmental and potentially financial value.
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