Kazakhstan's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Kazakhstan's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, consistently contributing the largest share over the decades. The Virgin Lands Campaign in the 1950s likely intensified agricultural activities, leading to increased emissions. However, the data shows a notable decline in agricultural emissions in the 1990s, possibly linked to the economic restructuring following Kazakhstan's independence in 1991. This period saw fluctuations in emissions as the country adjusted its industrial and agricultural practices.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
The energy sector's contribution to N2O emissions has grown significantly since the 1970s, coinciding with the expansion of Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry. The development of major oil fields, such as Tengiz and Kashagan, has further amplified emissions from this sector. Despite a dip in the 1990s, energy-related emissions have remained a substantial part of Kazakhstan's overall N2O emissions profile, reflecting the country's reliance on fossil fuels.
Policy Shifts and Future Prospects
Kazakhstan's accession to the Kyoto Protocol in 2000 and the adoption of the Green Economy Concept in 2013 indicate a shift towards more sustainable practices. While these policy changes have not yet resulted in immediate reductions in N2O emissions, they signal a commitment to addressing greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. The emphasis on renewable energy and sustainability, highlighted by events like EXPO 2017, suggests potential for future reductions in emissions as Kazakhstan continues to develop its green economy initiatives.
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.