Botswana's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance and Fluctuations
Botswana's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, which has consistently been the largest contributor over the decades. The agricultural sector's emissions saw significant fluctuations, particularly in the early 2000s and 2010s, with notable increases and decreases. These fluctuations can be linked to changes in agricultural practices and policies, such as the Economic Diversification Drive in 2008, which aimed to expand agricultural activities.
Energy Sector's Rising Influence
While agriculture remains the primary source, the energy sector has shown a marked increase in its contribution to N2O emissions, especially from 2000 onwards. This rise is closely associated with the development of coal-fired power stations like Morupule B, completed in 2012, which significantly boosted energy-related emissions. The expansion of the Botswana Power Corporation in 1998 also played a role in this upward trend.
Efforts Towards Emission Reduction
In recent years, Botswana has taken steps to address its emissions through policies and strategies aimed at promoting renewable energy and sustainable practices. The introduction of a national climate change policy in 2010 and the launch of a renewable energy strategy in 2015 highlight the country's commitment to reducing its reliance on fossil fuels. The implementation of a carbon tax in 2023 further underscores these efforts, setting the stage for potential future reductions in emissions.
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.