Israel's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Throughout the decades, Israel's N2O emissions have been significantly influenced by agricultural activities. The data reveals a consistent rise in emissions from agriculture, peaking in the 2010s. This trend aligns with the country's expansion in agricultural practices, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967, which increased agricultural activities in newly acquired territories. Despite a slight decrease in the 2020s, agriculture remains the largest contributor to N2O emissions in Israel.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
The energy sector has seen a notable increase in N2O emissions, particularly from the 1980s onwards. This rise correlates with the discovery of natural gas in the Sinai Peninsula in 1980 and the subsequent development of the Tamar and Leviathan gas fields in the 2000s and 2010s. While these developments have reduced CO₂ emissions by replacing coal and oil, the energy sector's N2O emissions have continued to grow, reflecting the complex dynamics of transitioning energy sources.
Industrial and Waste Contributions
Industrial emissions experienced a significant decline in the late 2000s, notably in 2008, which may be linked to economic shifts or technological advancements. Meanwhile, waste-related emissions have steadily increased, reflecting growing urbanization and waste generation. The Paris Agreement commitment in 2015 marked a turning point, with efforts to curb emissions through renewable energy and efficiency measures, setting the stage for future reductions across all sectors.
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.