Nitrogen use efficiency in Scotland: annual report 2025

How nitrogen use efficiency is expected to contribute to the achievement of future emissions reduction targets

Nitrous oxide (N₂O), which is a greenhouse gas, amounts to around 7 kt N / yr of these total emissions. The majority of nitrous oxide emissions come from agriculture (5.1 kt N / yr) with other contributions from land use and land use change (1 kt N / yr) and more minor ones from industry, transport and waste processing. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential (i.e. conversion factor to carbon dioxide equivalent) of 265 times stronger than CO₂. Scottish greenhouse gas emissions statistics for 2022^[7] show that the 7 kt of N in the nitrous oxide emissions amounted to 2.9 Mt of CO₂ equivalent emissions, which represented 7.2% of Scotland’s net greenhouse gas emissions for that year^[8]. This makes it the third most significant greenhouse gas, after CO₂ (which represents 66.2% of the net emissions) and methane (which represents 25.0% of the net emissions).

We are considering new opportunities to increase nitrogen use efficiency in the development of policies for the next Climate Change Plan to assist in meeting our target of net zero by 2045. Further opportunities will be considered through the development of future strategies and plans for relevant sectors and will be outlined in future SNBS reports.