Russian Federation's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Led, Then Eased
Agriculture has long dominated the Russian Federation's nitrous oxide profile, accounting for roughly two-thirds of emissions. Levels crept up early on, accelerated during the post-war era, and reached around 80 megatonnes by about 1980. They peaked during the 1980s at roughly 90 megatonnes, then trended downward for decades, settling near 50 megatonnes today. The overall climate impact from agriculture remains the largest despite this sustained decline.
Industry’s Rise, Fall, Rebound
Industrial emissions grew quickly from the mid-20th century, climbing to around 30 megatonnes by the mid-1970s. A pronounced contraction followed into the early 1990s, dropping to under 10 megatonnes. Since the mid-1990s, industry has edged upward again, now around 20 megatonnes and contributing about 15% of national nitrous oxide.
Energy And Other Downshift
Energy-related emissions rose into the late 1970s, then declined steadily from the low-teens to around 10 megatonnes today. Emissions from other sources grew to roughly 10 megatonnes by the late 1980s, then fell by about half around the turn of the century and have stayed near 5 megatonnes since. Waste remains a small, steady source at only a few megatonnes.
Current Trajectory And Priorities
Most major sources are flat or falling-especially agriculture and energy-while industry is inching upward. To reduce overall warming impact, priorities are to sustain and deepen the long-term declines in agriculture and energy, prevent further industrial rebound, and keep other sources from drifting upward. Progress is evident, but the pace of reductions in the largest sectors will determine future outcomes.
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.