List of the largest nitrous oxide emitters

The list of the largest nitrous oxide emitters contains tables with information on the emissions of nitrous oxide ( nitrous oxide , N ₂ O) by country and sector as well as on the worldwide annual emissions. The data is based on the PRIMAP-hist series of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in which data from various sources were merged in order to generate a comprehensive and coherent set of data on greenhouse gas emissions from 1850 to 2017. Emissions of nitrous oxide were about their global warming potential in CO ₂ equivalents (CO ₂ -eq) converted. Generally not included are emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

Overview

In 2017, 3.1 billion tons (Gt) of CO ₂ equivalents were emitted worldwide in the form of laughing gas, that is 6.5% of the total greenhouse gases emitted. About 45% of these emissions came from the four countries China , USA , Brazil and India . Worldwide, 75% of all nitrous oxide emissions come from agriculture, followed by energetic use with a good 9% and industrial processes with 6%.

By country

The following table lists the 40 countries with the largest emissions of nitrous oxide, 2017. All figures are in full Mt rounded.

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

Rank (2017)	country	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	Share 2017 in%
1	People's Republic of China	48	71	116	193	272	349	581	679	688	688	22.2
2	United States	226	288	423	468	396	402	402	390	381	375	12.1
3	Brazil	24	42	61	92	102	124	159	172	177	184	6.0
4th	India	21st	23	29	41	54	87	124	139	141	143	4.6
5	Russia	65	89	120	153	156	82	81	87	90	92	3.0
6th	Indonesia	19th	21st	23	26th	34	46	56	60	63	63	2.0
7th	Pakistan	7th	8th	13	20th	29	40	53	58	60	62	2.0
14th	Mexico	9	16	24	33	39	40	42	44	49	48	1.5
8th	Argentina	21st	35	40	44	42	48	39	42	45	46	1.5
13	Mali	1	0	1	1	1	2	35	38	44	45	1.5
15th	Turkey	12	15th	19th	26th	28	29	34	40	42	44	1.4
9	France	29	46	68	76	69	57	44	43	42	43	1.4
10	Nigeria	10	8th	11	16	22nd	28	35	38	41	43	1.4
12	Canada	17th	22nd	28	42	41	39	36	39	40	40	1.3
11	Germany	32	48	69	72	68	45	38	40	39	39	1.3
16	Ukraine	18th	28	44	58	53	23	27	32	35	34	1.1
17th	Iran	5	6th	9	14th	20th	25th	30th	31	32	32	1.0
19th	Vietnam	3	4th	6th	6th	9	18th	29	32	31	32	1.0
21st	Sudan	11	7th	10	14th	16	25th	28	29	30th	31	1.0
20th	Morocco	8th	5	8th	8th	9	17th	29	29	29	31	1.0
22nd	Egypt	5	4th	7th	10	13	16	27	28	28	28	0.9
24	South Africa	28	20th	24	28	28	30th	28	27	26th	27	0.9
23	Thailand	6th	7th	9	11	15th	18th	27	25th	26th	27	0.9
25th	Ethiopia	12	8th	10	10	12	16	24	25th	26th	26th	0.8
39	Chad	9	6th	6th	7th	7th	9	9	23	24	26th	0.8
26th	Tanzania	13	9	14th	13	15th	16	22nd	25th	25th	26th	0.8
28	South Sudan	21st	14th	16	18th	19th	25th	22nd	24	25th	24	0.8
18th	Colombia	6th	10	14th	17th	19th	19th	23	22nd	23	24	0.8
27	Japan	20th	24	30th	32	36	34	25th	24	23	23	0.7
30th	Australia	11	14th	16	21st	17th	21st	21st	21st	21st	23	0.7
32	Myanmar	7th	7th	9	11	12	14th	18th	21st	21st	23	0.7
29	Paraguay	3	5	5	6th	9	8th	18th	21st	22nd	22nd	0.7
33	Poland	16	21st	31	37	29	24	21st	20th	21st	22nd	0.7
31	United Kingdom	21st	34	46	57	49	28	21st	20th	20th	20th	0.7
36	Angola	13	8th	17th	12	16	15th	19th	20th	20th	19th	0.6
35	Spain	8th	10	14th	20th	19th	23	19th	19th	19th	19th	0.6
34	Italy	14th	20th	28	28	28	30th	20th	19th	19th	19th	0.6
38	Saudi Arabia	1	1	2	5	12	14th	14th	17th	17th	17th	0.6
37	Kazakhstan	10	13	15th	19th	19th	10	17th	17th	17th	17th	0.6
40	Malaysia	3	3	4th	5	6th	10	16	17th	17th	17th	0.5
	Other countries *	280	306	431	496	505	526	518	540	532	534	17.2
	world	1091	1326	1871	2265	2345	2432	2834	3040	3069	3099	100.0

^* Calculated residual size

By sectors

The following table shows the distribution of nitrous oxide emissions by sector according to the 2006 IPCC categories.

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

Rank (2017)	sector	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2015	2016	2017	Share 2017 [%]
1.	Agriculture	861	927	1272	1573	1740	1797	2137	2277	2307	2330	75.2
2.	energy	72	96	114	166	192	233	265	280	284	289	9.3
3.	Industrial processes	57	191	349	361	222	186	161	178	183	188	6.1
4th	waste	24	29	44	54	67	83	120	129	133	136	4.4
	Others	77	85	91	112	124	131	151	164	166	168	5.4
	total	1091	1326	1871	2265	2345	2432	2834	3040	3069	3099	100.0

Worldwide emissions

The next table shows the annual worldwide nitrous oxide emissions since 1950.

Emissions in millions of tons of CO ₂ -eq

year Emissions 1950 1091 1951 1109 1952 1126 1953 1147 1954 1168 1955 1189 1956 1213 1957 1240 1958 1267 1959 1296 1960 1326 1961 1407 1962 1457 1963 1508 1964 1559 1965 1621 1966 1693 1967 1752 1968 1803 1969 1848 1970 1871 1971 1857 1972 1913 1973 1991 1974 2006

year Emissions 1975 2059 1976 2101 1977 2140 1978 2193 1979 2262 1980 2265 1981 2232 1982 2226 1983 2265 1984 2292 1985 2280 1986 2292 1987 2339 1988 2312 1989 2345 1990 2345 1991 2318 1992 2315 1993 2307 1994 2301 1995 2366 1996 2411 1997 2408 1998 2435 1999 2408

year Emissions 2000 2432 2001 2456 2002 2470 2003 2518 2004 2602 2005 2610 2006 2646 2007 2724 2008 2748 2009 2774 2010 2834 2011 2882 2012 2894 2013 2959 2014 2977 2015 3040 2016 3069 2017 3099

See also

• List of the largest greenhouse gas emitters
• List of major carbon dioxide emitters
• List of the largest methane emitters
• List of the largest F-gas emitters

Web links

• Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research - PRIMAP-hist - Further explanations on the PRIMAP-hist dataset.
• Climate Watch (N ₂ O) - A detailed selection option including visualization of the emission data used here and other emission data (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Gütschow, J .; Jeffery, L .; Gieseke, R. (2019): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1850-2016) . v2.0. GFZ Data Services. doi: 10.5880 / pik.2019.001
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gütschow, J., u. a .: Data description. PIK, December 2018, accessed June 28, 2020 .