Algeria's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Dominates And Rises Steadily
Algeria's nitrous oxide emissions have been shaped mainly by agriculture, moving from very low levels in the early record to several megatonnes by the early 2000s. Growth then quickened, and since the mid‑2000s agricultural emissions have climbed further to just over 5 megatonnes, making this by far the principal driver of national N2O trends.
Non-Agricultural Sources Show Divergence
Energy and waste stayed modest through much of the late 20th century, then turned upward. Since the early 2000s, energy has risen steadily to under 1 megatonne, while waste also increased, especially after the late 2000s. "Other" sources tracked a similar pattern, edging up since the mid‑2000s to well under 1 megatonne. Industry followed a different arc: gradual growth through the late 1990s and early 2010s to a little over 1 megatonne, then a clear decline over the last decade.
Key Turning Points And Volatility
The turn of the century marked a shift from broadly low, steady emissions to faster growth across most sources. Agriculture shows the most persistent rise with little volatility; energy, waste, and other increased from low baselines; industry stands out for peaking and then easing. Even combined, non‑agricultural sources remain much lower than agriculture alone.
Outlook For The Coming Years
Current trajectories point to rising agriculture, energy, waste, and other emissions, while industry is easing. Bending the overall curve will require reversing the rise in agriculture most of all, while sustaining industrial declines and checking growth in the other mid‑sized sources.
Background
The chart shows a national breakdown by source of the yearly nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from human activities and processes, expressed as weight in megatonnes (Mt). Human-induced emissions are the main driver of the increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide that is warming our planet. The sources of human nitrous oxide emissions are
- Agriculture
- Energy
- Industry
- Waste
- Other
Agriculture
Emissions related to agriculture are mainly from the use of synthetic fertilizers and manure management.
Synthetic fertilizer, used for agricultural processes, contains a lot of nitrogen. That nitrogen in the soil reacts and causes considerable N2O emissions. The use of excess fertilizer, meaning more fertilizer than the plants can use to grow, causes even higher relative emissions. Applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time can reduce N2O emissions. There are many technical solutions to reduce emissions while keeping, or even increasing, agricultural yields.
When manure is left on the field or otherwise managed in dry processes, it emits considerable amounts of nitrous oxide. Manure can be managed by wet processes, which reduces nitrous oxide emissions but increases methane emissions. Some technical solutions focus on modifying the animal feed to reduce the nitrogen in the manure, thereby reducing nitrous oxide emissions.
Energy, Industry, Waste, and Other
All non-agricultural categories together have much lower emissions than agricultural emissions alone.
N2O emissions related to energy are almost all from the combustion of fossil fuels. For example, the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants, cars, and airplanes not only causes CO2 emissions but also emits nitrous oxide (N2O). Any advances to reducing fossil fuel dependency will thus also reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
Most industry-related emissions are from the chemical industry for producing fertilizer, nylon, and similar products. Technologies are available to reduce emissions in these processes.
Nitrous oxide emissions from waste come from, for example, wastewater treatment and landfills.
Wikipedia: Nitrous oxideIPCC: AR6, 5.16 Anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions
Units and Measures
N2O emissions are expressed in the total weight in megatonnes per year. 1 Megatonne is equal to 1 million tonnes.
Wikipedia: MegatonneWikipedia: Global warming potential
About the Data
The last available year in all the emission datasets is 2023. N2O emissions come from the PRIMAP-Hist dataset. It is a rich dataset that combines several published sources to create a historical emissions time series for various greenhouse gases.
The Key Insights paragraph was created using a large language model (LLM) in combination with our data, historic events, and a structured approach for best accuracy by separating the context generation from the interpretation and narrative.
Data Sources
PRIMAP-hist The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023)
Update cycle: Every few monthsDelay: Less than 1 yearCredits: Gütschow, Johannes; Busch, Daniel; Pflüger, Mika (2024): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023) v2.6. Zenodo.