Abstract:
Wastewater treatment services, responsible for about 3% of global electricity consumption and 1.6% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, face increasing pressure to adopt sustainable practices as wastewater production rises and climate change intensifies. The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) recast mandates energy neutrality by 2045 and requires monitoring of GHG emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4), signalling a paradigm shift for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and prompting the need to evaluate Portugal's carbon and energy footprint in WWTP.
