Pakistan's Fertilizer Management Can Cut Emissions by a Third

A new study has identified areas where smarter fertilizer management could help Pakistan reduce agricultural emissions while supporting food production.

Pakistan's agriculture sector faces a dual challenge of producing enough food while reducing its environmental footprint. The sector is a major source of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a greenhouse gas with 273 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

The study, conducted by ICARDA and other institutions, revisits Pakistan's 2018 agricultural N₂O emissions baseline using the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global warming potential and verified national data. It estimates a revised baseline of 62.26 million tons of CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO₂e), closely aligning with the 62.4 Mt CO₂e reported in Pakistan's 2021 National Inventory Report.

The study found that synthetic fertilizer is the largest direct source of agricultural N₂O emissions, contributing an estimated 14.72 Mt CO₂e. Among the five major crops assessed, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice, and maize, wheat accounts for an estimated 50% of N₂O emissions attributed to synthetic fertilizer, equivalent to 7.36 Mt CO₂e.