Nitrous oxide emissions - monitoring a critical aspect of the energy source diversification

Recently, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) has been identified as a super climate pollutant by the United Nations Environment Programme, having the third largest greenhouse gas potential and acting as the major ozone-layer depleting species nowadays. With its ever since increasing atmospheric abundance, anthropogenic processes, even those aiming to mitigate the global warming, may foster the problematic aspect of N 2 O by means of the intended diversification of energy sources if not critically monitored. In the context of hydrogen and its derivatives like ammonia discussed as key players, it will become crucial to monitor and urgently avoid an excess of N 2 O emissions following the emerging ammonia use as hydrogen-based fuel. This work describes the current situation with respect to measurements of N 2 O in terms of its metrological traceability. We report on the outlined development of new N 2 O gas standards and compare them to the needs in emissions monitoring applications and greenhouse gas measurements.