Finland's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Throughout the decades, Finland's N₂O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of emissions, peaking in the mid-20th century. The post-war period saw a significant rise in agricultural emissions, likely due to intensified farming practices to support food supplies during and after the Continuation War. Despite fluctuations, agriculture remains a key contributor to Finland's N₂O emissions.
Energy Sector's Rising Influence
The energy sector's contribution to N₂O emissions has grown notably since the early 20th century. The 1973 oil crisis prompted Finland to diversify its energy sources, leading to increased emissions from alternative fuels like peat. However, the sector's emissions saw a decline in recent years, reflecting Finland's commitment to renewable energy and carbon neutrality goals set in 2020. This shift underscores the country's efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Industrial and Waste Contributions
Industrial emissions surged in the mid-20th century, coinciding with Finland's industrial expansion. The 1980s saw a peak in industrial N₂O emissions, but subsequent economic recessions and EU membership in 1995 led to stricter regulations and a gradual decline. Waste-related emissions have remained relatively low but have shown a steady increase, reflecting growing waste management challenges. These trends highlight the evolving landscape of Finland's 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.