Israel's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Long-Term Rise, Then Plateau
Israel's nitrous oxide profile has been shaped most by agriculture, which expanded from modest levels in the post‑war era to about 1 megatonne by the mid‑2000s. Since then, agricultural emissions have largely plateaued, hovering just under 1 megatonne with only small year‑to‑year swings. Agriculture remains the largest single source, but other sectors collectively matter nearly as much.
Waste and Energy Growth Spurts
Waste has shown the clearest long‑run climb. From low levels in the 1960s, it rose steadily through the 1990s and has continued upward since the turn of the century, reaching well over 0.5 megatonnes today. Energy saw a sharp step‑up in the early 1990s to around a third of a megatonne, followed by a long period of stability and a slight easing in recent years.
Industry and Other Settle Back
Industry accelerated into the 1960s, briefly peaking, then settled into a broad plateau between roughly 0.3 and 0.6 megatonnes, edging down to nearer 0.4 megatonnes recently. "Other" sources grew through the mid‑1990s before reversing course, declining to under 0.2 megatonnes.
Current Trajectory and Priorities
Today, agriculture is broadly stable, waste is still rising, industry and energy are flat to slightly falling, and "other" is declining. To bend overall emissions downward, the upward trend in waste needs attention, while maintaining the recent stabilization or declines in agriculture, industry, and energy will be important to lock in progress.
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.