Researchers from the University of Cambridge have calculated the carbon footprint for the full life cycle of fertilisers are responsible for approximately five per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The researchers found that two-thirds of emissions from fertilisers take place after they are spread on fields, with one-third of emissions coming from production processes.

Although nitrogen-based fertilisers are already known to be a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, this is the first time that their overall contribution, from production to deployment, has been fully quantified. Their analysis found that manure and synthetic fertilisers emit the equivalent of 2.6Gt of carbon per year, making it a greater emitter than global aviation and shipping combined.

The Cambridge researchers say that a combination of scalable technological and policy solutions are needed to reduce fertiliser emissions while maintaining food security. However, they estimate that if such solutions could be implemented at scale, the emissions from manure and synthetic fertilisers could be reduced by as much as 80 per cent, to one-fifth of current levels, without a loss of productivity. Their results are reported in the journal Nature Food

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