Turkmenistan's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Throughout the decades, Turkmenistan's nitrous oxide emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of emissions, with significant increases observed over the years. The 1990s saw a notable decline, likely due to the economic restructuring following independence from the Soviet Union. However, the subsequent decades witnessed a resurgence, with emissions from agriculture reaching new heights, reflecting the sector's expansion and intensification.
Energy and Industry on the Rise
While agriculture remains the primary source, emissions from the energy and industrial sectors have shown a gradual increase. The development of Turkmenistan's oil and gas industries, particularly after the launch of the oil and gas policy in 1997 and the opening of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in 2006, contributed to this trend. These developments likely led to increased emissions due to intensified extraction and processing activities, as well as infrastructure expansion.
Recent Shifts and Future Prospects
In recent years, Turkmenistan has taken steps towards diversifying its energy mix, as evidenced by the 2020 renewable energy initiatives. While the immediate impact on emissions may be limited, these efforts signal a potential shift towards reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The participation in the Paris Agreement in 2015 further underscores the country's commitment to addressing greenhouse gas emissions, setting the stage for future reductions in nitrous oxide emissions across various 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 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.