Urgent abatement of industrial sources of nitrous oxide

The industrial emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and stratospheric ozone-depleting substance, have increased since 2010. However, untapped abatement potential for industrial emissions currently exists through low-cost technologies.

Nitrous oxide (N2O), the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, contributed 6% of total effective radiative forcing for the 1960–2019 period1. The rate of increase in atmospheric N2O concentration has accelerated in recent decades, mostly from increasing agricultural emissions, which contribute about two-thirds of the global anthropogenic N2O (ref. 2) and are challenging to reduce3. In contrast, the industry and energy sectors are responsible for only about 14% of global anthropogenic N2O emissions2, but offer untapped abatement potential through existing, low-cost technologies4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution


Change institution

Buy or subscribe

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Progress on abating N2O emissions from the industrial sector has been uneven.

References

  1. Canadell, J. G. et al. in IPCC Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Ch. 5 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021).

  2. Tian, H. et al. Nature 586, 248–256 (2020).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  3. Gu, B. et al. Nature 613, 77–84 (2023).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  4. Winiwarter, W., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Klimont, Z., Schöpp, W. & Amann, M. Environ. Res. Lett. 13, 014011 (2018).

    Article 

    Google Scholar     

  5. Global Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emission Projections & Mitigation EPA-430-R-19-010 (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2019); https://go.nature.com/3NLdnSP

  6. Patel, P. Chem. Eng. News 99, 20–23 (2021).


    Google Scholar     

  7. Harmsen, J. H. M. et al. Environ. Sci. Pol. 99, 136–149 (2019).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  8. Schaub, T. Science 366, 1447 (2019).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  9. Wiesen, P., Wallington, T. J. & Winiwarter, W. in Drawing Down N2O to Protect Climate and the Ozone Layer, A UNEP Synthesis Report (eds Alcamo, J. et al.) Ch. 5 (United Nations Environment Programme, 2013).

  10. Schneider, L., Lazarus, M. & Kollmuss, A. Industrial N2O Projects under C.D.M.: Adipic Acid—A Case of Carbon Leakage? Working Paper WP-US-1006 (Stockholm Environment Institute, 2010); https://go.nature.com/44kx8Hc

  11. McKenna, P., Pike, L. & Northrop, K. ‘Super-pollutant’ emitted by 11 Chinese chemical plants could equal a climate catastrophe. Inside Climate News https://go.nature.com/3Jw693r (2020).

  12. Feng, R. & Fang, X. Environ. Sci. Technol. 56, 5299–5231 (2022).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  13. Hasanbeigi, A. & Sibal, A. Stopping a super-pollutant: N2O emissions abatement from global adipic acid production. Global Efficiency Intelligence https://go.nature.com/3pgzhFg (2023).

  14. Second Biennial Update Report on Climate Change (Peoples Republic of China, 2018); https://go.nature.com/43W8CfV

  15. McKenna, P. A Florida chemical plant has fallen behind in its pledge to cut emissions of a potent greenhouse gas. Inside Climate News https://go.nature.com/43ZlrGd (2022).

  16. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2020 E.P.A. 430-R-22-003 (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2022).

  17. Kanter, D. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 110, 4451–4457 (2013).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  18. Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2022 GAW Report No. 278 (World Meteorological Organization, 2022).

  19. Reimer, R. A., Slaten, C. S., Seapan, M., Lower, M. W. & Tomlinson, P. E. Environ. Prog. 13, 134–137 (1994).

    Article 
    CAS 

    Google Scholar     

  20. Switzerland’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2021 (Federal Office for the Environment, 2023); https://go.nature.com/46gN6nL

Download references

Acknowledgements

E.A.D. acknowledges support from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the National Academy of Sciences while he served as Jefferson Science Fellow at the US State Department, where part of this work was initiated. E.A.D. thanks colleagues at the Office of Environmental Quality in the State Department for their encouragement during the Fellowship. W.W.’s work is a contribution to EYE-CLIMA, a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement number 101081395.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Frostburg, MD, USA

    Eric A. Davidson

  2. Spark Climate Solutions, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Eric A. Davidson

  3. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

    Wilfried Winiwarter

  4. Institute for Environmental Engineering, University of Zielona Góra, Zielona Góra, Poland

    Wilfried Winiwarter

Authors

  1. Eric A. Davidson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in
    PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wilfried Winiwarter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in
    PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

E.A.D. conceived the paper, W.W. conducted the model analysis, and both authors wrote and edited the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Eric A. Davidson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Davidson, E.A., Winiwarter, W. Urgent abatement of industrial sources of nitrous oxide.
Nat. Clim. Chang. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01723-3

Download citation

  • Published: 03 July 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01723-3

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative