The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere — a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide — which remains in the atmosphere longer than a human lifetime. 

• Nitrous oxide has risen 20% — from 220 parts per billion (ppb) in the pre-industrial era to 331 ppb in 2018 — and its growth has accelerated over recent decades due to emissions from various human activities. 
• “The atmospheric N2O burden increased from 1.4 billion ton in the 1980s to 1.5 billion ton in 2007-2016, with a possible uncertainty of ±20 million tons.  
• Emissions from synthetic fertilizer dominate releases in China, India and the U.S., while emissions from the application of livestock manure as fertilizer dominates releases in Africa and South America. 

• The failure to include N2O within climate mitigation strategies will need even greater abatement of CO2 and methane (also a greenhouse gas).  
• India has managed to slow nitrogen emissions growth since 2015 in part due to the neem-coating of urea policy that reduced atmospheric loss of the element as well as soil contamination. 
• Though agriculture remains the largest contributor to nitrogen emissions, non-agricultural emissions of nitrogen oxides and nitrous oxide were also growing rapidly, with sewage and fossil-fuel burning — for power, transport and industry — leading the trend.  

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/study-points-to-nitrous-oxide-emissions-derailing-paris-climate-accord-temperature-target/article32798473.ece