+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
Electric vehicles from life cycle and circular economy perspectives
Category: International Organisations, Policies and Measures
A report written for the European Environment Agency that used an extensive literature review to analyse and synthesis the environmental impacts of electric vehicles though life cycle and circular economy perspectives.
Read case studySupport to the European Environment Agency
Category: International Organisations, Emission Inventories, Policies and Measures
Aether has been providing support to the European Environment Agency through their European Topic Centres since 2014, focussing on air pollution, industrial pollution and climate change mitigation.
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 studyNews
Latest news
Posted on: 18 May 2026
Power Query Workshop in Estonia
Aether travelled to the Estonian Environmental Research Centre (EKUK) in Tallinn to deliver a two-day training workshop for the inventory team to build capacity on the Excel power queries used in the GHG inventory templates previously set up by Aether in 2022.
Read full storyPosted on: 30 April 2026
Capacity Sharing in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Aether delivered a three-day GHG inventory capacity building workshop in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, towards development of the BTR1.
Read full storyPosted 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 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
