Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Assessing the contribution of soil NOx emissions to European atmospheric pollution

Ute Skiba, Sergiy Medinets, L. M. Cardenas, Edward Carnell, Nick Hutchings, Barbara Amon

Environmental Research Letters · 2020

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Summary

This assessment documents the rising relative significance of agricultural sources in European NOx emissions, driven by stagnant progress in reducing farm-based emissions whilst combustion sources achieved substantial reductions. The authors examine the emission factors and methodologies currently embedded in European atmospheric pollution inventories, identifying considerable data gaps and uncertainty in agricultural soil emission estimates that limit the precision of inventory reporting.

UK applicability

As a constituent of the 42-country European analysis, the United Kingdom's agricultural NOx contribution and inventory methodology are likely included; the findings inform UK air quality policy and agricultural emissions reporting under EU and UNECE protocols, though country-specific validation of UK emission factors would be necessary for targeted mitigation.

Key measures

Agricultural NOx emissions as a percentage of total European NOx emissions; trends in sectoral emissions 1990–2017; emission factor uncertainty and data gaps; country-level inventory comparisons

Outcomes reported

The study quantified the contribution of agricultural soil and manure management to total European NOx emissions, and evaluated the validity and uncertainty of emission factors used in atmospheric pollution inventories across 42 European countries.

Theme
Climate & resilience
Subject
Climate & greenhouse gas mitigation
Study type
Research
Study design
Policy report
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
Europe
System type
Mixed farming
DOI
10.1088/1748-9326/abd2f2
Catalogue ID
BFmobghqjf-xa2cg6

Topic tags

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