Scientists Find Nitrogen Emissions Cool the Climate

A study reveals that nitrogen emissions have a cooling effect on the climate, but their overall environmental impact, including pollution and exacerbation of global warming, necessitates urgent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

An international team of researchers has discovered that nitrogen emissions from fertilizers and fossil fuels contribute to a net cooling effect on the climate. However, they caution that rising atmospheric nitrogen levels have harmful environmental impacts and emphasize the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

Published in Nature, the paper found that reactive nitrogen released in the environment through human activities cools the climate by minus 0.34 watts per square meter. While global warming would have advanced further without the input of human-generated nitrogen, the amount would not offset the level of greenhouse gasses heating the atmosphere.