Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

The Agriculture sector shows the greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, fertiliser use and energy consumption. These mainly consist of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions result from the use of fossil fuels and from lime and urea fertilisers. They make a smaller contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in the Agricultural sector.

In terms of total CH4 and N2O emissions, the Agriculture sector is way ahead of all the other sectors. The CH4 emissions in the Agricultural sector are mainly due to cattle rearing and the use of farmyard manure. The N2O emissions primarily come from agricultural land and, to a lesser extent, from farmyard manure use. On agricultural land, N2O is released through the biodegradation processes of nitrogen inputs (commercial fertiliser and farmyard manure, harvest residues, etc.). The relatively lower CO2 emissions come from the use of fossil fuels (greenhouses, grass drying, agricultural and forestry machinery and vehicles) and from lime and urea fertilisers. Not only is agriculture responsible for the direct greenhouse gas emissions shown here, but also influences the greenhouse gas balance of agricultural soil.

Evolution of greenhouse gas emissions in the Agriculture sector, broken down into the gases CH4, N2O and CO2.

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Industry

Waste

Synthetic gases

Land use

Aviation

Further information

Documents

Kenngrössen zur Entwicklung der Treibhausgasemissionen in der Schweiz (1990-2021) (PDF, 1 MB, 11.04.2023)Stand April 2023 (in German, also available in French)

Data

Evolution of Switzerland's greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 (April 2023) (XLSX, 374 kB, 11.04.2023)

Emissionsübersicht: Tabellen zum Bericht (Version Juli 2023) (XLSX, 350 kB, 11.07.2023)Tabellen zum Bericht «Emissionen von Treibhausgasen nach CO2-Gesetz und Übereinkommen von Paris» (in German, also available in French)

Last modification 11.04.2023