Saudi Arabia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Sets The Pace
From the post-war era to the late 1970s, agriculture's N2O emissions in Saudi Arabia were very low. They climbed through the 1970s, then surged in the early 1980s, shifting from well below 1 megatonne to the low single digits. Since the mid-1980s the trend has remained upward, adding a little each year and reaching around 6 megatonnes recently. Agriculture now accounts for just over two-fifths of national N2O emissions, making it the largest single source.
Energy And Industry Climb
Energy-related emissions were modest through the 1970s and 1980s, but they have risen steadily since around 1990, reaching just over 2 megatonnes. Industry followed a similar pattern: small through the 1970s, expanding through the 1990s and 2000s, then accelerating in the early 2010s to nearly 2 megatonnes today. Together, these two sectors contribute roughly one-third of national N2O emissions and continue to trend upward.
Other Sources Edge Up
"Other" sources were negligible until the late 1960s, then rose gradually to a little over 2 megatonnes, while waste remains comparatively small, under 1 megatonne. Overall, non-agricultural categories show persistent growth rather than large swings.
Outlook And Near-Term Priorities
Current momentum is upward across the major sources: agriculture continues to rise, energy and industry are still climbing, and other sources edge higher. To curb the country's N2O climate impact, the largest gains will come from slowing and ultimately reversing growth in agriculture, while reinforcing efforts to flatten energy, industry, and other categories.
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.