Jordan's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
From Stability To Growth
Jordan's nitrous oxide emissions sat at very low, steady levels through the early and mid‑20th century. From the late 1950s into the 1980s, the national profile shifted from stability to sustained growth, with a more pronounced rise since around 1980 driven by agriculture and industry.
Agriculture Leads Over Time
Agriculture is the largest contributor over the long run, accounting for just under half of cumulative emissions. From modest levels in the mid‑century, agricultural emissions climbed steadily from around 1980, reaching roughly 0.6 megatonnes today, with gradual year‑to‑year variations but a clear upward trajectory.
Industry Catches Up Rapidly
Industry accelerated from the late 1950s through the 1990s and kept rising thereafter. In recent years it has caught up with, and at times edged above, agriculture at around 0.6 megatonnes, making it a co‑dominant source alongside agriculture in Jordan's current emissions mix.
Smaller Sources Stabilize Recently
Energy, waste, and other sources each contribute a relatively small share-together around a fifth of cumulative emissions. They rose gradually through the late 20th century and have more recently hovered near about 0.1 megatonnes each, showing comparatively stable patterns.
What This Means Now
The dominant sources-agriculture and industry-are still trending upward. Bending the curve will require reversing these two trajectories, while maintaining the recent stability in energy, waste, and other to avoid a rebound. Progress in the largest sectors will matter most for reducing Jordan's overall climate impact from nitrous oxide.
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.