Skip to main content

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous oxide emissions are the third largest driver of climate change and the single greatest threat to the stratospheric ozone layer. They accounted for approximately 5% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2015 (measured in CO2eq). Key sources of nitrous oxide include agricultural soil and manure management, stationary and mobile combustion, and industrial processes such as adipic and nitric acid production. These sources account for 95% of U.S. nitrous oxide emissions. EPA estimates that U.S. nitrous oxide emissions will increase approximately 18.5% over 2015 levels by 2030, and these increases will come primarily from the agricultural sector. The DDPP reports conclude that nitrous oxide emissions should be reduced by at least 70 million tons CO2eq in 2050 relative to a business-as-usual baseline to achieve an overall net GHG emission reduction of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The chapter explains how existing legal pathways or new legal mechanisms could be used to attain and even exceed this reduction target.

Sub-topics

Filter by

31 resources

Example States and State Governments

Maine Nutrient Management Act

Maine’s Nutrient Management Act bans winter manure spreading from December 1st through March 15th, which reduces aeration of nitrous oxide.
Example States and State Governments

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plans

Six Chesapeake Bay Watershed jurisdictions – Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and the District of Columbia – are part of a federal-state initiative to develop and i...
Resource Congress

Report, Nitrogen Management Project Protocol

The Climate Action Reserve’s Nitrogen Management Project Protocol provides guidance on how to quantify, monitor, and verify greenhouse gas emission reductions from improving nitrogen use efficiency in...
Example States and State Governments

Maryland Nutrient Management Law

Maryland’s Nutrient Management Law requires all farmers using chemical fertilizer or manure to have a nutrient management plan for nitrogen. Fertilizer may not be applied to frozen ground, which reduc...
Resource Congress

EPRI Report, Creating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets by Reducing Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Agricultural Crop Production

EPRI’s 2013 report sought to define a scientifically robust, straightforward, readily implementable, and widely adoptable N2O emissions reduction offsets methodology that can be used by farmers to cre...
Model Law States and State Governments

LPDD Analysis: Incorporation of Climate Action Reserve Nitrogen Management Project Protocol 2.0 into State Law and Policy

Emissions of nitrous oxide are a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in the United States, amounting to approximately 5 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions on an annual basis. Agricul...
Example States and State Governments

New Hampshire Fertilizer Rules

New Hampshire sets nitrogen concentration limits for different types of fertilizer.
Resource Executive Branch

Report, Managing a Forgotten Gas Under Existing US Law: An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Kanter et al.’s 2017 report studies regulatory options to control nitrous oxide and explores the environmental and economic impacts of enacting them. It determines that the Clean Air Act is the most p...
Example Executive Branch

Clean Air Act §111

CAA §111 establishes a framework for regulating air pollution from stationary sources such as power plants and industrial facilities. EPA has not yet promulgated any new source performance standards o...
Example Foreign

Alberta’s Cap and Trade Program

Alberta’s Cap and Trade Program allows offset credits for reductions of nitrous oxide and other GHGs from agricultural sources, and has developed an offset protocol for estimating nitrous oxide reduct...
Example Executive Branch

Clean Air Act Title VI

CAA §615 provides the EPA Administrator authority to promulgate regulations controlling any substance anticipated to affect the stratosphere to the detriment of public health and welfare. This authori...
Example Foreign

New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme Agricultural Reporting Requirement

The New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme requires agricultural sources to report emissions, although it has not yet established any cap on emissions from these sources. The government is in a consulta...
Resource Congress

Congressional Research Service report, Federal Crop Insurance Background

The Congressional Research Services 2015 report on the Federal Crop Insurance program outlines the program’s history, types of insurance, costs, and recent changes.
Example States and State Governments

Delaware State Nutrient Management Law

The Delaware State Nutrient Management Law requires farmers prepare nutrient management plans, which must limit nitrogen application to the expected yield of the specific crop.
Resource Executive Branch

Potential Improvements to Clean Water Act NPDES Program

The Clean Water Act establishes a national pollution discharge elimination system to regulate operations that discharge pollutants directly into waters. Agricultural operations, including CAFOs, are c...
Example States and State Governments

California Emissions Trading Scheme

California’s cap-and-trade program covers nitrous oxide emissions from power plants, nitric acid facilities, and transportation fuels. If these facilities generation 25,000 tons of CO2-e or more per y...
Model Law Executive Branch

LPDD Model Regulation: Controlling N2O Emissions from Large Commercial Farms

This model regulation is designed to control emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) from large commercial crop farms to reduce impacts of N2O pollution to the stratospheric ozone layer. The regulation estab...
Example Executive Branch

Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook

The 2016 Good Farming Practice Determination Standards Handbook, for the first time, stated that practices promoted by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service would generally be recognized a...
Example Executive Branch

Clean Air Act §202

CAA §202(a) allows EPA to prescribe standards for air pollutants from mobile sources that may cause or contribute to air pollution that endangers public health or welfare. EPA has used this authority ...
Model Law States and State Governments

LPDD Model Law: Healthy Soils Bill for Establishing State N20 Management Standards

Nitrous oxide emissions are a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in the United States, amounting to approximately 5 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions on an annual basis. One source...
Resource Congress

CRS Report, Nitrous Oxide from Agricultural Sources: Potential Role in Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Ozone Recovery

This 2010 Congressional Research Service report considers whether nitrous oxide emissions should be subject to direct regulation, what role EPA should play using its existing Clean Air Act authority, ...
Example States and State Governments

New Jersey Fertilizer Rules

New Jersey prohibits the sale of fertilizer that exceeds certain limits for nitrogen concentration.
Resource Congress

Report, Climate Change and Federal Crop Insurance

Marzan and Ballard’s 2016 report examines the present risk of climate change in agriculture and discusses recent steps taken to address climate change in agriculture in general, specifically within th...
Example Foreign

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme imposes nitrous oxide limits on the production of nitric, adipic, glyoxal, and glyoxylic acids.
Example States and State Governments

Southern California Boiler and Water Heater Regulation

In Southern California, a rule adopted in June 2024 targets industrial boilers and water heaters fueled by fossil gas, driving a major shift toward electric boilers and heaters. Regulators in the Sout...
Example States and State Governments

Minnesota Vegetative Buffer Requirements

In 2015, Minnesota passed a pioneering law requiring permanent vegetative buffers on farmland abutting lakes and streams. The law was designed to reduce runoff, but will also increase soil carbon sequ...
Resource Executive Branch

EPA’s Good Neighbor Rule

In March 2023, EPA finalized it’s “Good Neighbor” Rule, under which power plant owners in 22 states will face tighter nitrogen oxides emissions requirements. Power plants without NOx emissions reducti...
Resource Foreign

UNEP Report, Drawing Down Nitrous Oxide to Protect the Ozone Layer

UNEP’s 2013 report describes the main mechanisms leading to nitrous oxide emissions and presents options for reducing emissions. It provides estimates of the emission reduction potential from various ...
Example States and State Governments

Colorado Order on Nitrous Oxide Management

In March 2023, Colorado’s governor promulgated an executive order requiring state agencies to develop regulations for cutting emissions of nitrogen oxides by 30 percent by the 2025 summertime ozone se...
Example States and State Governments

California Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy

The California State Legislature passed a law in 2014, codified at at Cal. Heath and Safety Code §39730.5, directing the California Air Resources Board to develop a comprehensive strategy to reduce sh...
Example Executive Branch

Clean Air Act §115

Clean Air Act §115 allows EPA to regulate any air pollutant on which there have been studies from an duly constituted international agency; for which US emissions endanger public health or welfare in ...