Brazil's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Brazil's anthropogenic N2O emissions have been significantly influenced by agricultural activities. Since the mid-20th century, emissions from agriculture have consistently been the largest contributor to the country's N2O emissions. The expansion of cattle ranching in the 1960s and the soybean boom in the 1980s are key events that likely contributed to this trend. By the 2020s, agriculture accounted for nearly 90% of Brazil's N2O emissions, reflecting the sector's dominant role in the country's emissions profile.
Industrial and Energy Sector Trends
While agriculture remains the primary source, emissions from the energy and industrial sectors have also shown notable trends. The energy sector saw a steady increase in emissions, particularly from the 1970s onwards, coinciding with Brazil's industrialization and infrastructure development under the military regime. Industrial emissions, however, peaked in the late 20th century and have since declined, possibly due to shifts in industrial practices or economic changes.
Deforestation and Policy Impacts
Deforestation has played a crucial role in Brazil's emissions history. The Action Plan for Deforestation Control in 2004 marked a significant reduction in emissions, highlighting the impact of policy measures. However, recent years have seen a reversal, with increased deforestation under President Bolsonaro's administration leading to higher emissions. The renewed environmental policies in 2023 aim to address these challenges, reflecting Brazil's ongoing struggle to balance economic development with environmental protection.
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.