The public health benefits of sanitation are widely recognized. To minimize the disease pathways at the city scale, everyone needs to have access to safely managed sanitation. That said, public health is not the only consideration. Global estimates of greenhouse gas emissions have not taken into account the complex service chain in growing cities, which has led to the underestimation of these emissions and their overall impact on the environment.

This interview unpacks an assessment carried out in Kampala, Uganda to better estimate emissions from all stages of the sanitation service chain, ultimately to be enable decisions where both public and environmental health are protected.