India's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in N₂O Emissions
India's N₂O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, particularly since the Green Revolution in the late 1960s. The introduction of high-yield crop varieties and increased use of nitrogen-based fertilizers significantly boosted agricultural productivity but also led to a marked rise in N₂O emissions. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of N₂O emissions, reflecting the country's reliance on agriculture for economic growth and food security.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
While agriculture remains the primary source of N₂O emissions, the energy sector has shown a notable increase over the decades. The diversification of energy sources, especially post the 1973 oil crisis, led to a rise in coal consumption, contributing to higher emissions. The expansion of natural gas infrastructure around 2010 aimed to mitigate this by reducing reliance on coal, yet the energy sector's share of N₂O emissions continues to grow, highlighting the challenges of transitioning to cleaner energy sources.
Impact of Industrial and Waste Sectors
The industrial and waste sectors have also played roles in India's N₂O emissions profile, albeit to a lesser extent. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984 prompted stricter regulations, indirectly affecting emissions. Meanwhile, waste management practices have evolved, yet emissions from this sector have steadily increased, reflecting urbanization and population growth. These sectors underscore the multifaceted nature of India's emissions landscape, where economic development and environmental sustainability must be balanced.
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.