OECD and Nitrogen Budget
Indicators
Albert Bleeker
www.ecn.nl
Current Nitrogen Indicators
• OECD – Soil nitrogen balance
• CBD – Nitrogen deposition
• Missing the ‘big nitrogen picture’
• Extending to:
– Other sectors/sources (industry, traffic, waste water, etc.)
– Other themes (air quality, biodiversity, eutrophication, etc.)
• Include these indicators into the OECD:
– Green Growth Indicator set
– Core Indicator set
Starting point
• Nitrogen Budget developed
for countries and Europe
• Published in:
– European Nitrogen Assessment
(2011)
Possible new indicators
• Using information from the Nitrogen Budget, indicators can be derived,
e.g.:
–
–
–
–
–
Trend in emissions/release by compound/sector
Trend in application/deposition per area
Nitrogen Use Efficiency per country/production state
Nitrogen Loss per capita/km2/country
….
Proposal Level 1,2 & 3 approach
• Level 1: easily implementable approach based on available statistics
• Level 2: refined Level 1 version based on national statistical information
• Level 3: combining national statistics with national conversion parameters
Level 1 approach
• Easily implementable
• Based on internationally available statistics
• Currently also used as a new indicator under the Convention on Biological
Diversity
– CBD Target 8 Indicator
90
– “Loss of reactive nitrogen to the environment”
80
• Show the nitrogen loss due to:
–
–
–
–
Production of food
Processing of food
Consumption of food
Use of energy
Energy use
Food consumption
Food processing
Food production
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Europe
North South
America America
Asia
Africa
World
OECD BRIICS
160
140
120
Indonesia
India
China
Russia
South Africa
Brazil
180
Switzerland
Japan
Austria
Portugal
Italy
Korea
Sweden
Mexico
Israel
Belgium
Hungary
Slovak Republic
Chile
United Kingdom
Turkey
Norway
Slovenia
Denmark
Netherlands
Germany
Spain
Finland
Greece
France
Poland
Czech Republic
Luxembourg
Estonia
Canada
United States
New Zealand
Ireland
Iceland
Australia
Nitrogen loss (kg N/cap/yr)
Nitrogen balances and indicators
Tier 1 approach and results
200
Energy use
Food consumption
Food processing
Food production
100
80
60
40
20
0