Ireland's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Ireland's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, consistently accounting for the majority of the country's emissions. This trend has been evident since the 19th century, with agriculture contributing over 80% of N2O emissions in recent decades. The introduction of the EU Common Agricultural Policy reforms in 1990 aimed to promote sustainable farming practices, which likely influenced a slight reduction in emissions growth from this sector.
Energy and Industrial Shifts
The energy sector has seen fluctuations in its contribution to N2O emissions. The completion of the Rural Electrification Scheme in 1958 and the introduction of a natural gas network in the mid-1980s marked significant shifts in energy consumption patterns. These changes likely contributed to variations in emissions, with a notable increase in the 2000s as energy consumption rose during the Celtic Tiger economic boom. However, the expansion of renewable energy by 2015 helped mitigate some of these emissions.
Economic Impacts on Emissions
Economic events have also played a role in shaping Ireland's emissions profile. The Celtic Tiger period saw a surge in emissions due to increased industrial activity, while the 2008-2009 recession led to a temporary decline. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in reduced economic activity and a corresponding decrease in emissions, highlighting the impact of economic fluctuations on Ireland's N2O emissions.
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.