Successful NH₃ abatement policies and regulations in German agriculture

Anthropogenic ammonia (NH₃) emissions, of which about 95 % are from agriculture, have led to environmental pollution, resulting in tremendous damage to human health and ecosystems. Thus, the NEC Directive 2016/2284/EU sets national reduction targets for NH₃ emissions in individual EU countries. To implement the NEC Directive for NH₃ emission targets, Germany amended the Fertilizer Application Ordinance in 2017 and 2020 (DüV_amended) and set the air pollution control regulation, Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA_Luft). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the DüV_amended on NH₃ mitigation from applying livestock manure, digestates, synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers, and TA_Luft on housing and storage. This study showed that Germany reached the first national NH₃ reduction target in 2020, as set by the NEC directive. The German DüV_amended, a significant policy change, has profoundly impacted NH₃ emission mitigation from agriculture after 2017 by implementing measures aimed directly at NH₃ reduction, reducing N surpluses, and improving N use efficiency. The reduction in NH₃ emissions from synthetic N fertilizers between 2016 and 2022 contributed about 51 % to the decrease from the agricultural sector over the same period. Among the synthetic fertilizers, NH₃ reduction from urea between 2016 and 2022 accounted for around 83 % of the total reduction from synthetic N, indicating that the NH₃ emissions from urea fertilizer by reducing urea application and mandating urea to be incorporated immediately or to be stabilized with urease inhibitors played a crucial role in the sharp decrease in NH₃ emissions over the last years in Germany. Achieving a high yield by lowering the synthetic N rate in this study strongly suggests that optimal reduction in N rate does not necessarily result in yield losses but rather in a pivotal relationship between the agronomic and environmental performance and indicates that the DüV_amended was an effective measure that can reduce the NH₃ emissions. Over 80 % of Germany's annual agricultural NH₃ emissions in 2021 and 2022 originated from livestock and digestates from energy crops. Mandatory close to the soil band application of slurry and digestates on cultivated cropland since 2020 reduced NH₃ emissions. In addition, banning of broadcast application of slurry to grassland and manure incorporation within one hour on uncultivated soils will become mandatory in 2025 to comply with NEC 2030´s target of 29 % NH₃ reduction relative to 2005. The recent German air pollution control regulation (TA_Luft) enforces abatement measures such as air purifiers in large poultry and pig housings and covered storage of slurry and digestate storages of large farms. The results of the German NH₃ abatement strategy for synthetic N fertilizers may help reduce NH₃ emissions worldwide, especially for countries consuming high amounts of urea fertilizers.