Uruguay's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agriculture Dominates Uruguay’s N2O Emissions
Uruguay's nitrous oxide profile is overwhelmingly shaped by agriculture, accounting for around 95% of national N2O emissions and roughly 500 megatonnes cumulatively. This dominant source alone represents about a tenth of the country's overall greenhouse warming impact. Energy, waste, industry, and other sources remain marginal by comparison, contributing only small amounts each year.
Mid-Century Surge, Then Plateau
From the late 19th century into the early 20th, agricultural emissions rose gradually from well below 1 megatonne. During the post‑war era they climbed rapidly, reaching over 5 megatonnes by around 1960. Since then, the trajectory has been fairly steady with a gentle upward tilt-typically hovering near 6-7 megatonnes per year and peaking just above 7 megatonnes in recent years. Non‑agricultural sources have stayed low throughout; energy has edged up since the mid‑2000s but remains small in national terms.
Outlook And Near-Term Priorities
The country's N2O trend is driven by agriculture, which is stable to slightly rising. To cut the national climate impact from N2O, the priority is to bend this large sector's trend downward; gains in smaller sectors will matter less for national totals. Consolidating stability and avoiding renewed increases in agriculture will determine the pace of progress.
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.