On the example of the Indian cities of Bangalore, Bhopal and Haridwar, it is explained which climate protection potential the introduction of integrated waste management in emerging and developing countries holds. In order to describe the waste management systems of the 3 cities, unavailable data was completed by local expertise and assumptions. Greenhouse gas balances according to the LCA method for waste management for the respective status quo and realistic optimization scenarios demonstrate the significant reduction potential resulting from a diversion of waste from landfill. An extrapolation of the results shows that measures in a large number of smaller cities can also be of relevance.