Four of the world’s most populous nations — China, India, the U.S. and Brazil — “are responsible for 46 percent of the world’s nitrogen emissions,” says the University of Sydney, which led an international collaboration to calculate the first-ever global nitrogen footprint.
The scientists found that developing nations “tend to embody large amounts of nitrogen emissions from their exports of food, textiles and clothing.” Arunima Malik, a co-author of the paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, said, “High-income nations are responsible for more than 10 times the emissions of the poorest nations. This reflects greater consumption of animal products, highly processed foods and energy-intensive goods and services.”
The study examined 188 countries. Researchers said the lion’s share of nitrogen emissions came from industry and agriculture. About 40 percent of emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, worldwide comes from human activity, says the EPA, with agriculture accounting for four-fifths of it. Transportation and industry are other major emitters.