Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a major greenhouse gas, have surged by 40% over the past 40 years, according to a recent study conducted under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project led by Boston University in the United States.
N2O levels were notably high for the most recent years analysed, 2020 and 2021.
Nitrous oxide, often called 'laughing gas,’ has a wide range of uses. In medicine and dentistry, it is frequently used as a painkiller. At the other end of the spectrum, it is used by vehicle manufacturers to make racing car engines go faster.
Agriculture plays a significant role in emissions of this gas, through the processing of nitrogen-based products such as fertilisers and manures. Nitrous oxide’s contribution to global warming is 270 times more potent than that of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Recent decades have witnessed a substantial rise in N2O emissions in countries that have experienced substantial population growth, such as China and India. In contrast, European emissions have declined.
The study, led by researchers from Boston College, involved an international team of 58 researchers from 15 different countries.
In their conclusion, its authors stress the critical need to curb nitrous oxide emissions if climate change targets are to be reached.
“Nitrous oxide emissions from human activities must decline in order to limit global temperature rise to 2°C as established by the Paris Agreement,” said lead author Hanqin Tian, Professor of Global Sustainability at Boston College.
“Reducing nitrous oxide emissions is the only solution since no technologies now exist that can remove nitrous oxide from the atmosphere,” he explained.
