Turkmenistan's Yearly Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO₂ Equivalent
Key Insights
Early Industrialization and Infrastructure
The annexation of Turkmenistan by the Russian Empire in 1881 marked the beginning of significant infrastructure development, including the construction of railways. This likely led to increased coal consumption, contributing to a gradual rise in CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels. However, emissions remained relatively low until the mid-20th century, reflecting the limited industrial activity in the region during this period.
Post-War Reconstruction and Development
The Ashgabat Earthquake in 1948 necessitated extensive reconstruction efforts, which likely caused a temporary spike in CO₂ emissions due to increased energy demands for rebuilding. The construction of the Karakum Canal from the 1950s to the 1980s further contributed to emissions, as heavy machinery and cement production were required. This period also saw changes in land use, potentially affecting methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Independence and Economic Restructuring
Following Turkmenistan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country underwent economic restructuring, focusing on developing its oil and gas industries. This led to increased CO₂ and methane emissions due to expanded fossil fuel extraction and processing activities. The launch of Turkmenistan's oil and gas policy in 1997 further intensified these emissions, as the country aimed to boost production and export.
Recent Developments and Future Prospects
In recent years, Turkmenistan has taken steps to address its greenhouse gas emissions. The development of the Galkynysh gas field in the 2010s and the opening of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline in 2006 contributed to increased emissions. However, the country's participation in the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the launch of renewable energy initiatives in 2020 signal a commitment to reducing emissions and diversifying its energy mix. These efforts may lead to a gradual decline in CO₂ emissions as Turkmenistan shifts towards more sustainable energy sources.
Background
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main drivers of human-induced warming. In the scientific literature, human-induced emissions are often referred to as anthropogenic emissions.
- CO2 Fossil Fuels and Industry (CO2 FFI)
- CO2 Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (CO2 LULUCF)
- Methane (CH4)
- Moderate: above 2.5 tonnes
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Fluorinated gases (F-gases)
Emissions from all different gases are expressed in CO2-equivalent units to make it possible to compare the relative emissions from these different gases. CO2-equivalents are calculated using the global warming potentials of the respective gases, in this case using a 100-year time horizon.
Wikipedia: Global Warming PotentialTotal Historic Share
Emissions from all different gases are expressed in CO2-equivalent units to make it possible to compare the relative emissions from these different gases. CO2-equivalents are calculated using the global warming potentials of the respective gases, in this case using a 100-year time horizon.
CO2 From Fossil Fuels and Industry
The sources are mostly fossil-fuel combustion emissions from coal, oil, and gas, as well as emissions from industrial processes such as cement production. Cement also absorbs CO2 out of the atmosphere through carbonation, which reduces emissions by about 0.8 Gt per year and is included here.
CO2 From Land-Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry
The main driver of these emissions is deforestation, which includes logging and forest degradation, as well as other land-use change activities. The emissions also take into account the absorption of CO2 by processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere, such as afforestation and reforestation. It is the net effect that is indicated here.
Methane (CH4)
Methane emissions are caused by human activities such as rearing livestock, agricultural practices, and fugitive fossil fuel emissions.
Nitrous Oxide (N2O)
Common sources of these emissions are fossil fuel emissions and the agricultural use of synthetic fertilizer and manure.
Fluorinated Gases (F-gases)
Fluorinated gases are a group of gases defined by UNFCCC: hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). Fluorinated gases are also known as halogenated gases.
Wikipedia: Greenhouse Gas EmissionsIPCC: Annual Report 6, 5.2.1 5.2 Historical Trends, Variability and Budgets of CO2, CH4 and N2O
Units and Measures
CO2-equivalent 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. CO2 emissions data is from the Global Carbon Project. It contains national CO2 emissions from fossil sources and land-use change. Emissions from CH4, N2O and F-gases 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
Global Carbon Budget 2024 Global Carbon Budget
Update cycle: yearlyDelay: ~ 10 months after the end of the year. Current year values are estimated and published in November.Credits: Friedlingstein et al., 2024, ESSD. Friedlingstein, P., O'Sullivan, M., Jones, M. W., Andrew, R. M., Hauck, J., Landschützer, P., Le Quéré, C., Li, H., Luijkx, I. T., Olsen, A., Peters, G. P., Peters, W., Pongratz, J., Schwingshackl, C., Sitch, S., Canadell, J. G., Ciais, P., Jackson, R. B., Alin, S. R., Arneth, A., Arora, V., Bates, N. R., Becker, M., Bellouin, N., Berghoff, C. F., Bittig, H. C., Bopp, L., Cadule, P., Campbell, K., Chamberlain, M. A., Chandra, N., Chevallier, F., Chini, L. P., Colligan, T., Decayeux, J., Djeutchouang, L., Dou, X., Duran Rojas, C., Enyo, K., Evans, W., Fay, A., Feely, R. A., Ford, D. J., Foster, A., Gasser, T., Gehlen, M., Gkritzalis, T., Grassi, G., Gregor, L., Gruber, N., Gürses, Ö., Harris, I., Hefner, M., Heinke, J., Hurtt, G. C., Iida, Y., Ilyina, T., Jacobson, A. R., Jain, A., Jarníková, T., Jersild, A., Jiang, F., Jin, Z., Kato, E., Keeling, R. F., Klein Goldewijk, K., Knauer, J., Korsbakken, J. I., Lauvset, S. K., Lefèvre, N., Liu, Z., Liu, J., Ma, L., Maksyutov, S., Marland, G., Mayot, N., McGuire, P., Metzl, N., Monacci, N. M., Morgan, E. J., Nakaoka, S.-I., Neill, C., Niwa, Y., Nützel, T., Olivier, L., Ono, T., Palmer, P. I., Pierrot, D., Qin, Z., Resplandy, L., Roobaert, A., Rosan, T. M., Rödenbeck, C., Schwinger, J., Smallman, T. L., Smith, S., Sospedra-Alfonso, R., Steinhoff, T., Sun, Q., Sutton, A. J., Séférian, R., Takao, S., Tatebe, H., Tian, H., Tilbrook, B., Torres, O., Tourigny, E., Tsujino, H., Tubiello, F., van der Werf, G., Wanninkhof, R., Wang, X., Yang, D., Yang, X., Yu, Z., Yuan, W., Yue, X., Zaehle, S., Zeng, N., and Zeng, J.: Global Carbon Budget 2024, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-519, in review, 2024.
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.