Azerbaijan's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Azerbaijan's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, consistently contributing the largest share over the decades. The agricultural sector's emissions saw a notable increase during the 20th century, peaking in the 1980s. This trend aligns with the country's industrialization and urbanization efforts during the 1970s, which likely intensified agricultural activities. However, the 1990s marked a period of decline, possibly due to the economic restructuring following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Energy Sector Fluctuations
The energy sector's N2O emissions have experienced fluctuations, with significant increases during the mid-20th century. The World War II oil production surge in 1941 and the subsequent expansion of the natural gas industry in the 1960s contributed to these emissions. The 1990s saw a decline, coinciding with Azerbaijan's independence and the restructuring of its energy sector. However, the completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in 2006 and the development of the Southern Gas Corridor in 2015 have since contributed to a resurgence in emissions.
Industrial and Waste Contributions
While industrial emissions have remained relatively low, they have gradually increased since the mid-20th century, reflecting Azerbaijan's ongoing industrialization. Waste-related emissions have also shown a steady rise, particularly in recent decades, as urbanization has led to increased waste generation. The completion of major infrastructure projects, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, has further contributed to emissions from waste management and transportation activities.
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 generated using a large language model (LLM) using a structured approach to improve the accuracy. This included 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.