N2O, CH4 and NH3 abatement in European agriculture : interrelations between global warming and acidification policies

In Europe agriculture is an important contributor to emissions of the acidifying compound ammonia (NH3) and the greenhouse gases nitrous oxide (N 2O) and methane (CH4). Measures to reduce one of these gases may also have an impact on emissions of the others. This study investigates the effects of control options for NH3, N2O, and CH4 that are available for the European agriculture on the emissions of all three gases. We found that NH 3 abatement in the European agriculture may have an adverse effect on N2O emissions while abatement of N2O results in a net decrease in emissions of NH 3. Reductions in CH4 emissions slightly increase in N 2O emissions. An optimisation analysis for the Dutch agriculture shows that a shift to other NH 3 abatement options is possible to avoid the increase in N2O emissions, but at considerable costs. If N 2O control options are available, it may be more costeffective to apply these options to reduce the N 2O emissions to the initial level.