Iraq's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Throughout the decades, Iraq's anthropogenic N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of emissions, although its dominance has gradually decreased from over 90% in the early 20th century to just over half by the 2020s. The decline in percentage is not due to a reduction in agricultural emissions, which have steadily increased, but rather due to the rise of other sectors.
Oil Industry's Growing Impact
The discovery and subsequent nationalization of Iraq's oil industry in the 20th century marked a significant shift in the country's emissions profile. The energy and industry sectors have seen substantial growth in N2O emissions, particularly from the 1970s onwards. The nationalization in 1972 and the subsequent expansion of oil production facilities contributed to this trend. By the 2020s, the industry sector alone accounted for nearly a quarter of Iraq's N2O emissions.
Conflict and Emissions Fluctuations
Iraq's history of conflict has also played a role in its emissions trends. The Gulf War in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003 led to significant infrastructure damage, including oil facilities, which caused fluctuations in emissions. Notably, the Gulf War oil fires in 1991 resulted in a temporary spike in emissions, while the 2003 invasion saw a sharp decrease in agricultural emissions, likely due to disruptions in farming activities.
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.