Ethiopia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Ethiopia's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, consistently contributing the largest share over the decades. The decadal data reveals a steady increase in emissions from this sector, with significant spikes in the early 2000s and 2010s. This trend aligns with Ethiopia's economic growth and agricultural expansion during these periods. Notably, the years 2019 and 2007 saw the highest annual increases in agricultural emissions, reflecting intensified agricultural activities.
Energy Sector's Growing Impact
While agriculture remains the primary source, the energy sector has shown a notable rise in its contribution to N2O emissions. Starting from negligible levels in the early 20th century, emissions from energy have gradually increased, particularly from the 1990s onwards. This rise coincides with Ethiopia's industrialization efforts and infrastructure development, such as the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2011, which, despite being a renewable energy project, involved significant construction activities.
Minimal Industrial Emissions
Interestingly, the industrial sector has not contributed to N2O emissions in Ethiopia, as indicated by the data. This absence suggests that industrial activities have either been minimal or have not significantly impacted N2O emissions. This contrasts with the country's efforts to develop industrial parks in recent years, which may have focused more on CO2 emissions rather than N2O.
Impact of Socio-Political Events
Historical events, such as the Ethiopian Revolution in 1974 and the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, have influenced emissions through changes in land use and agricultural practices. These socio-political shifts likely contributed to fluctuations in emissions, as land redistribution and economic reforms altered traditional farming methods and land management. The end of the Ethiopia-Eritrea War in 2000 also marked a period of increased emissions due to post-war reconstruction and economic recovery.
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.