+44 1865 259200
The challenge
Whilst nitrogen is essential for life, excessive amounts of so called “reactive” nitrogen compounds (including nitrogen oxides, ammonia and nitrates) in the environment are harmful. These compounds can affect ecology, climate change, and air quality. The industrialisation of the UK’s food system, alongside the contribution of nitrogen emissions from other industry, transport, and wastewater treatment, have led to a large increase in emissions of reactive nitrogen. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) wanted to understand the impact of the UK’s current reactive nitrogen emissions, identify potential interventions, and set out priorities for policy as a response.
The solution
Aether, alongside project partners, contributed to a comprehensive review of the nitrogen cycle in the UK. We used our technical insight across sectors to highlight the primary sources of disruptive reactive nitrogen and potential interventions that would reduce their impact whilst helping to meet the “triple challenge” of food security, climate mitigation and reversing biodiversity loss. For this, we undertook a detailed literature review, combining our technical knowledge of emissions inventories and processes, before researching mechanisms and existing policy actions on a local, national, and international scale.
The result
The technical report was published by the WWF in 2022 and has been used as evidence within the WWF’s ‘Land of Plenty’ campaign, which calls on the UK’s central and devolved governments to consider the findings of our report and set out their own decarbonisation strategies for agriculture and land use.
Richard German
Principal Consultant
Related case studies
2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines
Category: International Organisations, Emission Inventories
Justin Goodwin, Director at Aether, worked as part of a multi-national team on the 2019 Refinement of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
Read case studyDeveloping a comprehensive approach to nitrogen in the UK
Category: International Organisations, Policies and Measures
Aether, alongside project partners the Stockholm Environment Institute, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and Plantlife International, undertook a study for WWF of the nitrogen cycles and pathways in the UK and reviewed existing strategies and policies that could affect the balance of nitrogen in the environment.
Read case studyEU Forest Reference Levels
Category: International Organisations, LULUCF
Aether provided support to the European Commission and the LULUCF Expert Group in the technical assessment of EU Member State's National Forestry Accounting Plans.
Read case studyNews
Latest news
Posted on: 17 March 2026
Central Asia Study Tour: Air Quality Workshop
Aether provided representatives from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) who were visiting the UK on a study tour with an introduction to air quality management.
Read full storyPosted on: 26 February 2026
Pakistan Training Workshop on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), Carbon Markets, and Article 6 Mechanisms
Aether staff delivered a workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan on the fundamentals of MRV and GHG inventories.
Read full storyPosted on: 13 January 2026
Devolved Governments Air Pollutant Emissions Inventories
The air pollutant emissions inventories for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were published in September 2025. The data covers the period 2005 to 2023, for the pollutants ammonia, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, PM10, PM2.5, sulphur dioxide, and lead.
Read full storyPosted on: 11 December 2025
Aether provided training to strengthen Government of Jersey’s climate policy modelling capacity
Aether completed a project for to train staff in Government of Jersey in using Aether's Carbon Scenario Model to quantify the carbon impacts of net zero policies. The model is a key tool for the Government of Jersey for informing policy decisions on climate actions, and other related policies.
Read full storyFilter news by category
Aether Blog Air Pollution Air Quality Assessments Barriers to Net Zero Capacity Building Carbon Footprint Climate Emergency Climate Equality Climate Finance Consumption COP28 Culture Data Visualisation Economic Status Emissions Reporting European Topic Centre GHG Infrastructure Inventories Local Government Mitigation MRV National Government Net Zero Oxfam Paris Agreement Policy Recruitment Society Stakeholder Engagement Waste Sector Wider Impacts
Testimonial
