Poland's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Century-Long Rise, Then Shift
Poland's nitrous oxide emissions climbed from the early 20th century through the post‑war era. Agriculture led a rapid upswing, peaking around 20 megatonnes by the late 1970s, while industry rose to roughly 10 megatonnes. Energy increased more gradually, picking up from the 1960s to the 1990s. After the late 1970s, the earlier growth gave way to decline in the largest sources.
Agriculture Dominates The Profile
Agriculture makes up around two‑thirds of national N2O and has edged down since the mid‑1990s, hovering just below 20 megatonnes with a gentle downward drift. Industry has fallen from about 10 megatonnes in the late 1960s to around 5 today. Energy climbed to just under 6 megatonnes in the late 1990s before easing to a little over 4. Other sources have trended down from roughly 2 to under 1 megatonne since the late 1970s. Combined non‑agricultural emissions remain well below agriculture on its own.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
With agriculture still flat‑to‑slightly declining, and industry and energy on long‑term downward paths, Poland's overall N2O picture looks stabilizing rather than rapidly falling. To deliver meaningful reductions, deeper cuts in agriculture are essential, while maintaining the downward momentum in industry and energy. Other sources are small and slowly decreasing, so the largest gains will come from these major sectors.
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.