Cook Islands' Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Early Developments and Emission Trends
The Cook Islands' journey through the 19th and early 20th centuries saw modest economic activities, with the annexation by the British Empire in 1888 and incorporation into New Zealand in 1901. These events marked the beginning of structured economic development, including agriculture, which likely contributed to minor increases in N₂O emissions. However, the overall impact on emissions remained limited due to the small scale of activities.
Modernization and Agricultural Impact
The establishment of self-government in 1965 and subsequent tourism development in the 1970s led to increased infrastructure and energy use, contributing to CO₂ emissions. Notably, the modernization of agriculture in the 1980s introduced new farming techniques, resulting in a moderate rise in N₂O emissions from fertilizers. This period marked a shift towards more intensive agricultural practices, reflecting in the emissions data.
Renewable Energy and Conservation Efforts
The early 2000s saw the Cook Islands investing in renewable energy projects, aiming to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. This initiative likely contributed to a more sustainable energy profile, positively impacting emissions. Additionally, marine conservation efforts in 2010 promoted sustainable practices, indirectly supporting emission reduction goals. These efforts align with the Cook Islands' commitment to the Paris Agreement in 2015, emphasizing a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Pandemic-Induced Emission Changes
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 significantly impacted the Cook Islands' economy, primarily driven by tourism. The resulting decrease in air travel and energy use led to a temporary reduction in CO₂ emissions. This period highlights the vulnerability of emissions to global events, underscoring the importance of sustainable practices in maintaining emission reductions.
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.