Chile's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Dominates, Recent Decline Begins
Chile's N2O profile has long been led by agriculture, accounting for about two-thirds of national emissions. After minimal levels early on, agriculture rose quickly through the post‑war era and climbed steadily from the mid‑1950s to the early 2010s, peaking at just over 5 megatonnes. Since then, it has trended downward, easing toward roughly 4 megatonnes, marking a notable shift after decades of growth.
Energy And Waste Edge Up
While much smaller than agriculture, energy and waste have gradually expanded their roles. Energy stayed low until the late 1980s, then increased, at times exceeding 1 megatonne and lately hovering just above that level with some year‑to‑year variation. Waste has crept upward since the mid‑20th century to around 1 megatonne. "Other" sources rose through the 2000s and have broadly stabilized near 0.6 megatonnes.
Shifts Across The Decades
The major turning points are clear: a rapid mid‑century lift in agriculture, continued gains through the 2000s, and a downturn starting in the early 2010s. In contrast, non‑agricultural sources grew more gradually, diversifying the emissions mix but remaining well below agriculture on their own.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today, the dominant source-agriculture-is falling. That progress is encouraging but needs to continue. Waste is still inching upward, and energy appears elevated and broadly stable; "other" is steady. Maintaining the agricultural decline while curbing the gradual rise in waste and keeping energy from drifting higher will matter most.
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.