Honduras' Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Drives Long-Term Rise
Honduras's nitrous oxide profile is shaped overwhelmingly by agriculture, which accounts for well over four-fifths of national emissions. After very low levels before the mid-20th century, emissions climbed steadily from the late 1930s through the early 1980s. Growth slowed and varied around the late 1980s to early 2000s, hovering near the low single megatonnes, then picked up again since the early 2000s, reaching a little over 2 megatonnes in recent years. This renewed rise in agriculture defines the national trajectory.
Energy And Other Shift Modestly
Non-agricultural sources remain much smaller than agriculture combined. Energy stayed low for decades, rose through the early 2010s toward roughly 0.2 megatonnes, and has since eased slightly and stabilized around the mid-0.1s. "Other" sources were minimal until the early 1990s, increased to just under 0.2 megatonnes by the early 2010s, and have been broadly steady since. Waste has inched up gradually to a little over 0.1 megatonnes, while industry remains near zero throughout.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today, agriculture is still rising, while energy appears to be stabilizing or edging down, and "other" sources are broadly steady. Reversing the upward trend in agriculture is the central priority for reducing national N2O emissions, with continued efforts to sustain or deepen recent stability in energy and to keep "other" sources from drifting upward.
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.