4. Benefits of N fertilisers
•
•
•
•
•
Higher yields
Cheap (“value for money”)
Easy to transport, store & apply
Non-toxic & non-smelling
Enhance C storage in biomass
5. Downside of N fertilisers - manufacturing
•
•
•
Energy intensive (fosil fuels)
Polluting
Often subsidised
9. A framework for assessing N fertilisers externalities
Damage to:
•
•
•
•
•
Subsidies:
Air
Climate
Water
Soil
Biodiversity
• Production
• Transport
• Application
External cost
14. Monentarisation of emissions
Pollutant
Damage (EUR/t)
High
Low
CO2
NH3
NOx
33*
1,335*
PM 2.5
647*
7,134 *
PM 10
N (water)
N (water)
4,632*
100**
5,000**
33*
76,193*
51,580*
124,873*
81,086*
4,000**
20,000**
Method
Marginal abatment cost
VSL or VOLY
VSL or VOLY
VSL or VOLY
VSL or VOLY
VSL (colon cancer)
WTP (eutrophication)
* EEA, 2011. Revealing the costs of air pollution from industrial facilities in Europe.
European Environment Agency, Cohenhagen.
** Sutton et al. (eds.), 2011. The European Nitrogen Assessment. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge .
15. UK agriculture: environmental cost of N fertilisers
216 EUR per ha or 36% of UK’s agrculture gross-value added
Source: own calculation
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/fertilized-world/essick-photography#/14-only-sub-saharan-plant-producing-low-cost-urea-fertilizer-670.jpg2% of global energy use
In the 70-ties it was 30,000 t http://www.pbl.nl/sites/default/files/cms/publicaties/bouwman_pedosphere.pdf
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention)Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol)The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
The vast majority of NH3 emissions — around 94 % in Europe — come from the agricultural sector. indirect emissions following deposition of NH3 and NOx (1% of N deposited as NH3and NOx is subsequently re-emitted as N2O), or leaching or run off (2.5 % of Nleached or run off, IPCC Worksheet 4-5, sheets 4 and 5).