Archive:Agri-environmental indicator - ammonia emissions

Data from November 2012. Most recent data: Further information, Main tables and Database.

This article provides a fact sheet of the European Union (EU) agri-environmental indicator "Amonia emissions". It consists of an overview of recent data, complemented by all information on definitions, measurement methods and context needed to interpret them correctly. The Intensification/extensification article is part of a set of similar fact sheets providing a complete picture of the state of the agri-environmental indicators in the EU.

The indicator shows the annual atmospheric emissions of ammonia (NH₃) in the EU-27 for 1990-2010, and the contribution agriculture made to total EU-27 emissions of NH₃ in 2010.

Main indicator:

Ammonia emissions from agriculture (kilotonnes per year)

Supporting indicator:

Share of agriculture in total ammonia emissions (%)

Main statistical findings

Key messages

In 2010, the EU-27 agricultural sector emitted a total of 3 364 kilotonnes of ammonia, and was responsible for 94 % of total ammonia emissions across the region.
Emissions of ammonia from the agriculture sector have decreased by 30 % compared with 1990. This is mainly due to the reduction in livestock numbers (especially cattle), changes in the management of organic manures and from the decreased use of nitrogenous fertilisers.
The largest emission reductions between 1990 and 2010 have occurred in the Netherlands (-68 %), Latvia (-66 %), Bulgaria ( 66 %) and Lithuania (-64 %). Only Spain (+15 %) and Cyprus (+0.1 %) reported increased ammonia emissions during this period.

Assessment

Within the EU-27, emissions of NH₃ from agriculture have decreased by 30 % between 1990 and 2010 (Figure 1). However, the agriculture sector remains responsible for the vast majority of ammonia emissions within the EU-27, and in 2010 was responsible for 94% (3 364 kilotonnes) of the total ammonia emissions from across the EU region (Figure 2). The majority of the reduction reported since 1990 is due to a combination of reduced livestock numbers across Europe (especially cattle) (Figure 3), and the lower use of nitrogenous fertilisers across the EU-27 region (Figure 4).
Including emissions from all economic sectors, the EU-27 region as a whole has met the 2010 NEC Directive 0081/2001 emission ceilings for NH₃ and the vast majority of EU-27 Member States also met their individual 2010 national targets on the basis of preliminary emissions data reported at the end of 2011. Two Member States (Finland and Spain) report they did not meet their NH₃ceiling ^[1]. The largest decrease in NH₃ emissions occurred between 1990 and 1993 in the EU. Emissions of NH₃continued to decline in most years since, albeit gradually. The downward trend is expected to continue, mainly due to further expected reductions in livestock numbers, especially cattle and pigs, and improvements in manure management.
Although the total decrease in agricultural ammonia emissions across the EU-27 was 30 % between 1990 and 2010, individual Member States had widely varying trends (Figure 5). A number of Member States have achieved reductions in excess of 40 % during this period with the Netherlands (-68 %), Latvia (-66 %), Bulgaria (-66 %) and Lithuania (-64%) reporting the largest decreases. In contrast, Spain (+15 %) and Cyprus (+0.1 %) have both seen emissions of ammonia from agriculture increase between 1990 and 2010.
One of the contributory reasons for the large increase in ammonia emissions observed in Spain is due to increased numbers of cattle, swine and poultry that occurred between 1990 and 2010. In contrast the large decrease in emissions observed in the Netherlands is mainly due to a change in agricultural practices that have been aimed at minimising ammonia emissions. Specifically, manure spreading by broadcasting on the soil surface has been phased out, and has instead been replaced by application of slurries by injection or band spreading and rapid incorporation of manure into the soil. However, the side effect of this measure can be to increase the amount of mineral nitrogen retained in the soil that, under anaerobic conditions, could be emitted as N₂O ^[2]. However, not all studies have reported increases in N₂O emission following injection of liquid manures ^[3] or immediate incorporation of litter-based solid manures ^[4]. In consequence the impacts of ammonia abatement on N₂O emission are highly uncertain. Incorporation of manure can also lead to increased nitrate leaching and subsequent pollution of water resources, although the impact on nitrate leaching is very dependent upon the seasonal time of manure application ^[5]. These examples help illustrate how dependent the ammonia emissions within countries can be to the levels of livestock populations and types of agricultural practice followed.
The share of ammonia emissions that occur from the agriculture sector are shown by Member State in Figure 6. In most EU-27 Member States agriculture contributes over 90 % of the total ammonia emissions. However, a number of Member States (Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom) report lower contributions due to a relatively larger proportion of ammonia emissions being reported from other sectors of their economies e.g. in Bulgaria from road transport, waste and industrial processes.
Figure 7 shows the amounts of ammonia emitted from the manure management and agricultural soils sub-sectors. France as the leading agriculture producer of the EU-27 is the largest emitter, emitting 19 % of all EU agricultural emissions of NH₃ in 2010. Germany produced the second highest absolute emissions of ammonia after France, accounting for 15 % of the EU-27 agricultural total. Italy, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom are also significant emitters of ammonia. Differences between all countries are generally due to the types and numbers of livestock held within each country coupled with other factors previously described such as climatic, agricultural management, and stock feed differences.
Figure 8 shows the aggregated emissions of agricultural NH₃ expressed per utilised agricultural area (UAA). This analysis provides one measure of the intensity of agricultural activity within a country, and illustrates how the varying land use and agricultural practices across the EU-27 results in variations in emissions intensity occurring. Three Member States, Malta, the Netherlands and Belgium have significantly higher emissions per UAA than the other EU-27 Member States, directly reflecting the higher intensification of agricultural activities within these three countries.

Data sources and availability

Indicator definition

The indicator shows the annual atmospheric emissions of ammonia (NH₃) in the EU-27 for 1990-2010, and the contribution agriculture made to total EU-27 emissions of NH₃ in 2010.

Measurements

Main indicator:

Ammonia emissions from agriculture (kilotonnes per year)

Supporting indicator:

Share of agriculture in total ammonia emissions (%)

Links with other indicators

The indicator "Ammonia emissions " is linked to following other indicators:

AEI 05 - Mineral fertiliser consumption	AEI 11.2 - Tillage practices	AEI 19 - Water quality - Pesticide pollution
AEI 10.1 - Cropping patterns	AEI 11.3 - Manure storage	AEI 26 - Soil quality
AEI 10.2 - Livestock patterns	AEI 12 - Intensification/Extensification	AEI 27.1 - Water quality - Nitrate pollution
AEI 11.1 - Soil cover	AEI 15 - Gross nitrogen balance

Data used and methodology

Ammonia emissions data for this indicator is based upon official Member State data included in the 2012 official national data submission reported by the EU to the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Atmospheric Pollution (LRTAP Convention). Livestock and fertiliser use data are from the 2012 official national greenhouse gas data submission from Member States under the EU Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism and EEA European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET). Utilised agricultural area statistics are from European Commission (2012).

Under the agreed international guidelines for estimating emissions of greenhouse gases, countries are encouraged to use country-specific methods wherever possible as this leads to improved emission estimates. The different methods used by countries can sometimes mean that data are not fully comparable between countries. Care should therefore be taken when analysing the trends between countries.

Context

Sustainable development and the integration of environmental considerations in all policy areas are key to reach long-term objectives for the EU, as expressed in the 6th Environment Action Programme and the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. Agriculture plays a key role in European economy but also has side effects and damaging effects on both human health and the environment. For example, with respect to ammonia emissions, the agriculture sector is currently responsible for the great majority of ammonia emissions in the EU.
Ammonia released to the atmosphere increases the level of air pollution directly damaging health and, once deposited to the ground, increases the load of nitrogen in soils and waters. The effects of this added nitrogen is to disrupt the balance of species and biodiversity. In 2000 rather large areas showed high exceedances of critical loads for nutrient nitrogen, especially in the western part of Europe, following the coastal regions from north-western France to Denmark. In southern Europe high exceedances are only found in northern Italy. Predictions for 2010 and 2020 indicate that the risk of exceedances is high irrespective of whether it is assumed that the current policies and measures to reduce eutrophying nitrogen emissions will be fully implemented or if all technically and economically feasible additional policies are applied.
This indicator has links to a number of other AEI indicators that describe developments in some of the main contributory factors that affect emissions of ammonia from the agricultural sector. In particular, indicators No.5 ‘Mineral fertiliser consumption’, No. 10 ‘Cropping/livestock patterns’, No.11 ‘Farm management practices’, No.12 ‘Intensification and extensification’ and No.15 ‘Gross nitrogen balance’ are of relevance. Emissions of ammonia from agriculture are also linked to the following indicators: No. 19 Greenhouse gas emissions, No.26 Soil quality and No.27.1 Water quality - nitrate pollution.

Policy relevance and context

A number of policy instruments have directly or indirectly affected the ammonia levels emitted by Member States. The main factors which have influenced EU emissions of ammonia from the agriculture sector since 1990 have been legislative instruments such as:
• the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP);
• the Nitrates Directive; and
• the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC).
All three measures may be considered to have had the indirect effect of changing agricultural practices across the EU, and have, for instance, led to a reduced use of nitrogenous fertilisers and an overall decrease in cattle numbers across the EU, both examples of factors that affect the levels of ammonia emissions produced. For example, the IPPC Directive requires businesses within Member States to take measures to reduce ammonia emissions. It applies to pig and poultry holdings if they have more than 2 000 production pig places (for pigs > 30 kg), 750 sow places or 40 000 poultry places. Pollution control is required for all large units since 2008. In the EU-15 Member States, the reforms of CAP, and specifically the removal of the link between farm production and payments introduced by the 2003 reform, has resulted in reduced livestock numbers across the region. Large decreases in livestock numbers across the new EU-12 Member States have also occurred, but for different reasons. These reductions are due to decreases in product prices, coupled with increases in some input prices, that occurred in the early stages of the transition to market-based economies and hence have also indirectly contributed to the decrease in ammonia emissions observed.
Other non-legislative factors have also had impacts upon EU agricultural practices. For example, trends in the farming sector are also linked to changes in economic framework conditions, technological and social trends as well as agricultural policies per se. Structural and management changes in the farming sector that are induced by market conditions (e.g. prices of different inputs, consumer demand for different types of meat) and technological development (e.g. introduction of manure management and application techniques, feed ration improvements) may also be regarded as important factors behind trends in agricultural ammonia emissions.
At the European level, there are two other instruments that target ammonia emissions, but across all economic sectors and not just the agriculture sector alone. These are:
• the National Emission Ceilings Directive 2001/91/EC (NECD) requires Member States to have met ceilings (limits) by 2010 and in the years thereafter. It required an approximate 15% emission reduction for the EU as a whole by 2010 from 1990 emission levels.
• the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (the Gothenburg Protocol) to the UNECE LRTAP Convention also requires parties to have met emission ceilings by the year 2010. All EU Member States are signatories to the Protocol except Malta and Estonia.
In addition to ammonia, both instruments also specify individual legally binding 2010 ceilings for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane volatile organic carbons (NMVOCs).
Ammonia was also one of the pollutants included under the European Commission’s Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) programme that led to the development of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution under the Sixth Environmental Action Programme in 2006. The aim of the Strategy is to develop long-term, strategic and integrated policy advice to protect against significant negative effects of air pollution on human health and the environment. The European Commission is currently reviewing the European Union’s air quality policy, and, amongst other initiatives, is expected to propose a revised NEC Directive in 2013 at the latest. A revised directive will build on the findings of the policy review and is likely to set objectives for 2020 and beyond for relevant air pollutants. In the absence of new legislation, however, the NEC Directive remains in force and requires countries to keep emissions below national ceilings in the years beyond 2010.

Agri-environmental context

In Europe, ammonia emissions mainly occur as a result of volatilisation from livestock excreta, whether this occurs from livestock housing, manure storage, urine and dung deposition in grazed pastures or after manure spreading onto land. A smaller fraction of NH3 emissions result from the volatilisation of NH3 from nitrogenous fertilisers and from fertilised crops.
With regards to emissions from livestock excretions, the production of NH3 is closely related to livestock production levels. The characterisation of livestock numbers is therefore the basis of the national agricultural NH3 inventories. However, livestock numbers alone may be misleading if reductions in numbers are due to increased production per animal e.g. dairy cow numbers have decreased in many countries because more milk is being produced per cow. Hence more recent inventories also take account of changes in N excretion per animal. Emissions levels are generically calculated based on estimates of activity data (e.g. livestock numbers within a country) multiplied by an emission factor that links the level of emissions to the unit of activity data available. The emission factors used in these calculations are selected from either international guidance material or country-specific research that take into account the specific environmental and management factors applicable for the respective livestock units in their calculation. A number of different emission factors are therefore used for a given livestock species, which attempt to take into account the complex interactions that occur between the various combinations of environmental and management factors which exist. These factors lead to significant regional variations in emissions occurring and which often cannot be adequately reflected by use of default national methodologies to calculate emissions.
The amount of NH3 emitted by livestock can be a function of many variables (EMEP/EEA, 2009), including:
• properties of the animal manure (itself dependent on the animal feed, and species, age and weight of the animal);
• for each animal type, the efficiency of the conversion of nitrogen in feed to livestock production (milk, eggs etc) and hence the nitrogen remaining in the manure and the proportion of that N that is volatised;
• whether the animals are housed on a liquid or litter-based manure management system;
• manure storage system used (open or covered slurry tank);
• proportion of time spent indoors or grazing by the animal;
• soil properties; and
• the method and rate of application of manure onto agricultural land, including the time between application and incorporation.
The magnitude of NH3 emissions that occur as a result of the application of mineral nitrogenous fertilisers will similarly depend on many factors such as the type of fertiliser used, meteorological conditions and the time of fertiliser application in relation to the stage of crop canopy, the soil type and pH. Ammonia emissions emitted from the foliage of growing fertilised plants are generally related to the level of nitrogen fertiliser applied, However, NH3 emissions from decomposing plants are uncertain, and are difficult to calculate due to the variable emissions that occur from this source.
Where possible, countries are recommended to use country-specific emission factors. Country-specific values offer advantages compared to using default values from international guidance material (e.g. EMEP/EEA, 2009) as they allow the differences between countries, with respect to environmental and agricultural practices, to be taken into account. Increasingly however, countries are performing research into developing, and subsequently using, regional-specific emission factors. However, research to develop and verify emission factors is both costly and time consuming and so there is still a general lack of experimental data on both the national and European scales that would allow improved and more specific methods of calculating emissions to be developed. While the use of country- and regional-specific emission factors means a standard methodology is not used by all countries, the use of such specific factors is considered good practice in estimating emissions as it allows a more detailed, appropriate methodology to be applied that better reflects national circumstances.

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