Panama's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Panama's anthropogenic N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. Since the mid-20th century, emissions from this sector have seen a steady increase, reflecting the country's agricultural expansion. The 1960s marked a significant rise, with emissions nearly doubling by the 1970s. This trend continued into the 21st century, with agriculture consistently contributing the largest share of N2O emissions. Notably, the early 2000s saw a sharp increase, followed by fluctuations in subsequent years, possibly linked to changes in agricultural practices or policies.
Energy Sector's Gradual Rise
While agriculture remains the primary source, the energy sector has shown a gradual increase in N2O emissions over the decades. Starting from negligible levels in the early 20th century, emissions from energy have steadily climbed, reflecting Panama's growing energy demands. The 2000s saw a notable uptick, coinciding with the Panama Canal expansion projects, which likely required significant energy inputs. Despite this growth, the energy sector's contribution remains relatively small compared to agriculture.
Impact of Major Events
Several key events have influenced Panama's emissions profile. The Panama Canal's expansion, completed in 2016, likely contributed to temporary spikes in emissions due to construction activities. However, the long-term impact may be a reduction in global shipping emissions, as larger vessels can now transit more efficiently. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a temporary dip in emissions, as global shipping and local economic activities slowed down.
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.