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Nitrous oxide sources, mechanisms and mitigation

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 6, pages 574–592 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance. In this Review, we outline global N2O sources, with a focus on hotspots and hot moments, and discuss strategies to mitigate N2O emissions. N2O can be released by natural sources such as bedrock weathering, but anthropogenic sources such as agriculture account for 40% of total emissions. Hotspots are localized regions of high emissions and include cropland soils (2.1 Tg N yr−1), tropical forests (1.55 Tg N yr−1), pasture soils with animal waste return (1.7 Tg N yr−1), and streams and small lakes (0.4 Tg N yr−1). Brief periods of intense emissions, known as hot moments, include post-deforestation, upland soils after fertilizer application, and desert and grasslands after precipitation. N2O production from terrestrial and aquatic environments is mainly driven by two microbial processes: nitrification and denitrification. Bioaugmentation and biogeoengineering technologies hold potential for reducing N2O emissions; for example, nature-based anammox hotspot geoengineering in Jiaxing, China, reduces N2O emissions by 27.1%. However, the spatiotemporal heterogeneities and different production pathways of N2O emissions are poorly represented in existing models, hindering the quantification and mitigation of emissions. A global N2O database is needed to address this limitation. Additionally, artificial intelligence technology could enable real-time agricultural management to align nitrogen supply with crop demand.

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Fig. 1: Global N2O emission trends.
Fig. 2: Global N2O emission hotspots and hot moments.
Fig. 3: N2O production pathways.
Fig. 4: Anammox-hotspot biogeoengineering in China.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB0750400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (92251304) and the Special Project on eco-environmental technology for peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality (RCEES-TDZ2021-20). G.B.Z., S.Y.W. and C.L.L. acknowledge the Program of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A.H.K. is supported in part by the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. M.S.M.J. is supported by ERC Synergy MARIX 854088.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guibing Zhu  (祝贵兵), Hao Shi  (石浩), Shanyun Wang  (王衫允), Chunlei Liu  (刘春雷), Nan Zhang  (张楠), Liping Jiang  (姜丽萍), Longbin Yu  (于龙斌), Chunhui Zhan  (占淳慧), Ziyang Tang  (唐梓洋) & Yong-Guan Zhu  (朱永官)

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guibing Zhu  (祝贵兵), Hao Shi  (石浩), Shanyun Wang  (王衫允), Nan Zhang  (张楠), Longbin Yu  (于龙斌), Chunhui Zhan  (占淳慧), Ziyang Tang  (唐梓洋) & Yong-Guan Zhu  (朱永官)

  3. School of Earth System Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

    Lei Zhong  (钟磊)

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Guang He  (何广) & Frank E. Löffler

  5. Department of Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing, China

    Baozhan Wang  (王保战)

  6. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Jun Shan  (单军)

  7. School of Energy and Environment and State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Health, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Ping Han  (韩平)

  8. National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Tongxu Liu  (刘同旭)

  9. School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China

    Teng Wen  (温腾)

  10. Key Laboratory of Agro-Forestry Environmental Processes and Ecological Regulation of Hainan Province, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou, China

    Bin Ma  (马斌)

  11. Interdisciplinary Research Center for Agriculture Green Development in Yangtze River Basin, College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing, China

    Xiaoxuan Su  (苏晓轩)

  12. Research and Development Centre of Beijing Drainage Group Ltd, Beijing, China

    Shujun Zhang  (张树军)

  13. School of Breeding and Multiplication, Hainan University, Sanya, China

    Jinbo Zhang  (张金波)

  14. Department of Soil and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Hongjie Di

  15. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Yangtze Delta Estuarine Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Lijun Hou  (侯立军)

  16. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Alexander H. Krichels

  17. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Mark Trimmer

  18. Department of Microbiology, RIBES, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Mike S. M. Jetten

  19. National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Key Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

    Yongzhen Peng  (彭永臻)

  20. Center for Earth System Science and Global Sustainability, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Hanqin Tian  (田汉勤)

Authors
  1. Guibing Zhu  (祝贵兵)
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  2. Hao Shi  (石浩)
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  3. Lei Zhong  (钟磊)
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  4. Guang He  (何广)
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  5. Baozhan Wang  (王保战)
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  6. Jun Shan  (单军)
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  7. Ping Han  (韩平)
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  8. Tongxu Liu  (刘同旭)
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  9. Shanyun Wang  (王衫允)
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  10. Chunlei Liu  (刘春雷)
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  11. Nan Zhang  (张楠)
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  12. Liping Jiang  (姜丽萍)
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  13. Longbin Yu  (于龙斌)
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  14. Chunhui Zhan  (占淳慧)
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  15. Ziyang Tang  (唐梓洋)
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  16. Teng Wen  (温腾)
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  17. Bin Ma  (马斌)
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  18. Xiaoxuan Su  (苏晓轩)
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  19. Shujun Zhang  (张树军)
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  20. Jinbo Zhang  (张金波)
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  21. Hongjie Di
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  22. Lijun Hou  (侯立军)
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  23. Alexander H. Krichels
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  24. Mark Trimmer
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  25. Mike S. M. Jetten
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  26. Yongzhen Peng  (彭永臻)
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  27. Frank E. Löffler
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  28. Hanqin Tian  (田汉勤)
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  29. Yong-Guan Zhu  (朱永官)
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Contributions

The project was conceived and led by G.B.Z. and Y.G.Z. All authors wrote and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guibing Zhu  (祝贵兵) or Yong-Guan Zhu  (朱永官).

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment thanks Rui Feng, Stephen Del Grosso and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Related links

Fangzhuang wastewater treatment plant: https://iwa-network.org/press/global-best-in-water-projects-announced-at-iwa-2024-project-innovation-awards/

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Zhu, G., Shi, H., Zhong, L. et al. Nitrous oxide sources, mechanisms and mitigation. Nat Rev Earth Environ 6, 574–592 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-025-00707-5

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