Republic of Moldova's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance and Fluctuations
Throughout the decades, the Republic of Moldova's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of emissions, peaking in the late 20th century. The 1990s saw a significant decline in agricultural emissions, coinciding with Moldova's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. This period of economic transition led to a temporary reduction in industrial output and energy consumption, impacting emissions. However, the agricultural sector's emissions have shown some recovery in recent years, reflecting ongoing agricultural activities.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
The energy sector, while historically a minor contributor to N2O emissions, has seen a gradual increase in its share over the decades. The introduction of natural gas in the 1970s marked a shift in energy sources, potentially reducing CO₂ emissions but increasing methane emissions due to leaks. The early 2000s energy sector reforms aimed at improving efficiency further influenced emissions trends. By 2020, the energy sector's contribution to N2O emissions had grown, reflecting Moldova's evolving energy landscape.
Impact of Economic and Policy Changes
Moldova's emissions history is also shaped by significant economic and policy changes. The post-WWII industrialization and the introduction of railways in the 19th century contributed to increased emissions. More recently, the EU Association Agreement in 2014 and renewable energy initiatives in 2010 have aimed to align Moldova with European environmental standards, promoting cleaner energy sources and reducing emissions. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 temporarily reduced emissions due to decreased economic activity, highlighting the potential for emissions reductions through changes in behavior and policy.
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.