Denmark's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Dominates Denmark’s Emissions
Denmark's nitrous oxide profile is shaped by agriculture, which accounts for around 70% of national N2O emissions. Non‑agricultural sources-industry, energy, and other-are far smaller in comparison, together making up roughly one‑third of the total. Waste is a minor contributor.
Mid-Century Surge, Later Easing
From the early 1930s to the late 1970s, agricultural emissions rose steadily, peaking at roughly 5-6 megatonnes. Since then they have trended down, declining through the late 20th century and easing further in recent years to just under 4 megatonnes. The result is a lower plateau than the historical peak, but still the dominant share.
Industry Retreats, Energy Levels Off
Industry climbed quickly in the post‑war era to the low single‑digit megatonnes by the late 1960s, then steadily receded for decades to well below 1 megatonne today. Energy-related emissions increased gradually into the 1970s to about half a megatonne and have been broadly stable or slightly declining since. Emissions from other sources edged up to the late 1980s and then fell consistently to very low levels.
Current Trajectory And Key Priorities
Among major sources (>5%), agriculture is drifting downward but remains the decisive driver; industry continues to fall; energy is roughly stable to slightly lower; and other sources are declining. Progress is evident, yet the gradual pace in agriculture means deeper reductions there-while sustaining industry's decline and nudging energy lower-will matter most for reducing Denmark's overall climate impact from nitrous oxide.
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.