Romania's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Early Industrialization and Emission Growth
Romania's journey of industrialization began with the opening of the world's first industrial-scale oil refinery in 1857, marking the onset of increased emissions. The early 20th century saw further industrialization, particularly during World War I, which led to a rise in emissions due to expanded coal mining and steel production. The nationalization of industries in 1948 under the communist regime accelerated industrial growth, significantly boosting emissions from heavy industries.
Communist Era and Emission Peaks
The mid-20th century was characterized by rapid industrial expansion, particularly in the petrochemical sector during the 1960s. This period saw a substantial increase in emissions, with agriculture and industry being major contributors. The 1977 earthquake and subsequent reconstruction efforts further spiked emissions. However, the fall of communism in 1989 marked a turning point, as economic restructuring led to a temporary reduction in emissions due to the closure of inefficient industrial operations.
Modernization and Emission Reduction
Romania's accession to the European Union in 2007 brought about stricter environmental regulations, leading to efforts to reduce emissions through improved energy efficiency and cleaner technologies. The early 2010s saw a shift towards renewable energy, contributing to a gradual decrease in emissions. Romania's commitment to the Paris Agreement in 2015 reinforced this trend, as the country set ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fostering a more sustainable energy landscape.
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.