Fertilizer already existing amount of reactive nitrogen, nitrous oxide (NO) has become the third most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane. It has a global warming potential 296 times larger than an equal mass of carbon dioxide and it also contributes to stratospheric ozone depletion. By changing processes and procedures, it is possible to mitigate some, but not all, of these effects on anthropogenic climate change. Methane emissions from crop fields (notably rice paddy fields) are increased by the application of ammonium-based fertilizers. These emissions contribute to global climate change as methane is a potent greenhouse gas. In Europe
Greenhouse gas emissions in Kentucky tons of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) (4.8 MMTCE), and 0.003 million metric tons of nitrous oxide (0.2 MMTCE) The major source of carbon dioxide emissions was fossil fuel combustion (96%), the majority of which is utility coal. Minor emissions came from cement and lime production and forest/grassland conversion. Carbon dioxide sinks (i.e., an increase in forest carbon storage) offset about 26% of the total carbon dioxide emissions. Sources of methane emissions were coal mining (73%), domesticated animals (12%), landfills (10%), manure management (3%), and natural gas/oil extraction (2%). Nitrous oxide emissions were from fertilizer use. Sources of perfluorocarbons were HCFC-22 production (91%)