Liechtenstein's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Leads, Then Stabilizes
In Liechtenstein, about half of nitrous oxide emissions come from agriculture. After a gradual build-up from the late 1930s to the early 1980s, agriculture settled into a long, steady stretch around 0.004 megatonnes per year, with only minor variation since. This extended stability has effectively anchored the country's overall N2O profile.
Energy, Industry, And Other Shift
Energy-related emissions were minimal until the late 1960s, rose through the late 1990s, and have eased since the turn of the century toward roughly 0.001 megatonnes. Industry climbed during the post‑war era and then declined steadily from the early 1970s to low levels. The "other" category, modest from the late 1960s onward, has been trending down since the early 1990s, with a further soft dip in the 2010s. Waste increased slowly through the late 20th century and has been broadly flat at low levels since around 2000.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Today, agriculture remains stable but dominant, while energy is gently falling and industry and other are on clearer downward paths; waste is steady. To reduce total N2O further, maintaining the declines in energy, industry, and other will help, but deeper cuts likely hinge on bending the long‑flat agricultural line. Keeping recent easing intact and avoiding rebounds across the larger sectors would consolidate 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.