Venezuela's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Venezuela's anthropogenic N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, which has consistently been the largest contributor over the decades. The agricultural sector's emissions have shown a steady increase, particularly from the mid-20th century onwards, reflecting the expansion and intensification of agricultural practices. This trend aligns with the country's focus on agricultural development to support its economy and population growth.
Oil Industry's Impact on Emissions
The discovery of oil in the Maracaibo Basin in 1914 marked a significant turning point for Venezuela, leading to increased energy-related emissions. The nationalization of the oil industry in 1976 and subsequent events, such as the founding of OPEC and the Oil Opening in 1989, further amplified emissions from the energy sector. However, the oil price collapse in 2014 and U.S. sanctions in 2019 led to a decline in oil production, temporarily reducing emissions.
Fluctuations in Other Sectors
While agriculture and energy are the primary sources of N2O emissions, other sectors like industry and waste have contributed to the overall emissions profile. The industrial sector, although smaller in comparison, saw a slight increase in emissions during the late 20th century. Waste management practices have also evolved, with emissions from waste showing a gradual increase over time. These fluctuations highlight the complex interplay of economic, political, and environmental factors influencing Venezuela's emissions landscape.
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.