Czechia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Leads, Then Levels Off
Agriculture has been the single largest source of Czechia's N2O, contributing about half of the total. Emissions climbed steadily through the post‑war era, accelerating into the mid‑1980s and peaking at roughly 6 megatonnes. A sharp drop followed around the early 1990s, after which levels have been relatively steady, fluctuating from about 3 to nearly 4 megatonnes and finishing just over 3 megatonnes.
Energy’s Surge And Subsequent Decline
Energy-related emissions were modest until the post‑war period, then rose through the 1960s-80s to around 2 megatonnes. After holding near that level, they jumped in the 1990s, reaching the late‑1990s high of roughly 4-5 megatonnes. Since the turn of the century, the trajectory has reversed, with a sustained decline to about 2 megatonnes today.
Industry Peaks, Other Eases Down
Industry grew quickly in the 1950s-60s, peaking near 2.5 megatonnes, and has trended downward since the late 1960s to around 1 megatonne. "Other" sources were fairly stable near 0.5 megatonnes for much of the 20th century, easing down from the early 1980s to roughly 0.2 megatonnes. Waste remains small, hovering around a quarter of a megatonne in recent years.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today, agriculture is broadly stable at just over 3 megatonnes, while energy, industry, and other are on downward paths. To reduce national N2O faster, the key is to bend the dominant agricultural trend downward and maintain the declines in energy and industry, with continued progress in other sources reinforcing the overall momentum.
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.