Greece's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Influence on N₂O Emissions
Greece's N₂O emissions have been significantly influenced by agricultural practices, particularly the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. The introduction of industrial fertilizers in the 1950s marked a notable increase in emissions from this sector. The 1981 accession to the European Union further intensified agricultural activities, contributing to a rise in N₂O emissions. However, recent decades have seen a decline in agricultural emissions, reflecting changes in practices or economic factors.
Energy Sector Shifts and Emissions
The energy sector in Greece has experienced several shifts impacting N₂O emissions. The 1973 oil crisis led to increased lignite use, raising emissions. The introduction of natural gas in the 1990s helped reduce CO₂ emissions, although it had a limited direct impact on N₂O. More recently, the expansion of renewable energy since 2015 has contributed to a cleaner energy mix, indirectly affecting overall greenhouse gas emissions.
Economic Factors and Emission Trends
Economic events have also played a role in shaping Greece's emissions profile. The 2009 financial crisis led to a significant decline in industrial activity and energy consumption, resulting in a decrease in emissions. This trend highlights the sensitivity of emissions to economic conditions, with reduced industrial output and energy demand leading to lower emissions during periods of economic downturn.
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.