Croatia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Post-War Rise, Later Retreat
Croatia's nitrous oxide emissions grew most visibly after the mid‑20th century, led by agriculture. Agricultural emissions rose from low levels to a mid‑1980s peak of roughly 2.3 megatonnes, then eased back and have hovered on a gentle downward path since the early 1990s, now around 1.1 megatonnes. Industry surged from the 1950s to the early 1970s, peaking near 1.3 megatonnes before a long, gradual decline to about 0.7 megatonnes. Other sources remained relatively small and steady, edging down since the 1970s, while energy and waste stayed minor throughout.
Agriculture Remains The Heavyweight
Over the full record, agriculture accounts for just under 60% of national N2O emissions, with a cumulative impact around 130 megatonnes. Industry contributes close to 30%, roughly 60 megatonnes, and other sources add around 20 megatonnes. The overall pattern is one of rapid mid‑century growth, followed by stabilization and a slow retreat, with agriculture and industry driving most of the variation and non‑agricultural categories much lower.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today's dominant sources-agriculture, industry, and other-are all trending downward, albeit gradually. This is encouraging, but the pace is modest. Keeping total emissions falling will depend on sustaining declines in agriculture, which remains the largest share, and maintaining the steady reductions in industry. Continued incremental progress in these two sectors is the most impactful path to lower national N2O 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 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.