Lao People's Democratic Republic's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Throughout the decades, the Lao People's Democratic Republic has seen a significant rise in N2O emissions, primarily driven by agricultural activities. From the mid-20th century, agriculture has consistently been the largest contributor to N2O emissions, reflecting the country's agrarian economy. The introduction of the New Economic Mechanism in 1986 and subsequent economic reforms likely spurred agricultural expansion, contributing to increased emissions. Notably, the 2010s marked a period of rapid urbanization, which further amplified emissions from agriculture as the demand for food production rose.
Energy and Urbanization Impact
While agriculture remains the dominant source, energy-related emissions have also shown a gradual increase, particularly from the 1990s onwards. This trend aligns with Laos' membership in ASEAN in 1997, which facilitated economic growth and industrialization. The construction of the Nam Theun 2 Dam in 2000 and the rapid urbanization in the 2010s further contributed to energy-related emissions. Despite these increases, energy emissions remain a smaller fraction compared to agriculture.
Other Sources and Recent Trends
Emissions from other sources, including waste, have also seen fluctuations. The early 2000s witnessed notable changes, with significant yearly variations in emissions from other sources. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 temporarily reduced emissions due to decreased economic activity. However, the long-term impact remains uncertain as the country recovers. Overall, while agriculture continues to dominate, the interplay of energy, urbanization, and other factors shapes the emissions landscape in Laos.
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.