Democratic People's Republic of Korea's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Peak And Long Decline
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nitrous oxide emissions rose through the post‑war era, accelerated from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, and peaked at roughly 8 megatonnes. Since that peak, the overall climate impact has trended downward, settling at much lower levels by the 2000s and remaining subdued into recent years. Cumulatively since the 19th century, national emissions sum to around 350 megatonnes.
Agriculture Dominates, Industry Fades
Agriculture is the principal source, responsible for roughly 55% of national N2O, climbing rapidly to the early 1980s before declining to around 1 megatonne today-varying widely over the decades. Industry contributed about 20% historically, surging into the mid‑1980s above 2 megatonnes before contracting to near zero later on. "Other" sources (about 15%) were relatively steady, nudging up to the early 1980s then easing back to around a third of a megatonne. Energy's contribution (around 5-10%) rose gradually to the late 1980s and has since leveled near 0.3 megatonnes. Waste remained small and stable near a quarter of a megatonne.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today, the dominant sources are either falling (agriculture) or broadly stable at low levels (other, energy), while industry has dropped to negligible levels. Maintaining the downward path in agriculture and locking in low emissions across non‑agricultural sectors would sustain the national decline in N2O-related warming impact.
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.