Cuba's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Cuba's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, especially during the mid-20th century. The 1960s and 1970s saw a significant rise in emissions from this sector, likely due to intensified agricultural activities such as the Ten Million Ton Sugar Harvest in 1970. This campaign aimed to boost sugar production, which likely increased emissions from land-use changes and energy use in sugar processing. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a severe economic crisis, prompting a shift towards organic farming and a reduction in fertilizer use, which likely contributed to a decrease in N2O emissions from agriculture.
Industrial and Energy Shifts
Industrial emissions in Cuba saw a notable increase during the 1970s and 1980s, reflecting the country's industrialization efforts. However, the economic crisis following the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 led to a reduction in industrial activity, contributing to a decline in emissions. The Energy Revolution initiated in 2004 marked a significant shift towards energy efficiency and renewable energy, likely reducing emissions from the energy sector. Despite these efforts, the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations in 2016 brought increased tourism and economic activities, potentially leading to a rise in emissions from transportation and energy use.
Complex Waste and Other Emissions
Emissions from waste and other sources have remained relatively low compared to agriculture and industry. However, events such as Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused temporary disruptions, leading to fluctuations in emissions. The reconstruction efforts following the hurricane likely resulted in a temporary increase in emissions. Overall, while Cuba has made strides in reducing emissions through energy efficiency and organic farming, external events and economic changes continue to influence its emissions profile.
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.