Crop emissions linked to manure emissions
Comparing Emission Totals - Emissions (CH4) - Manure Management with Emissions from crops — Emissions (CO2eq) (AR5) across 173 countries, 2023–2050.
- Rank correlation
- +0.86
- Holding size constant
- +0.54
- Countries compared
- 173
- Period
- 2023–2050
What might link these
The relationship between emissions from crops and manure management might be driven by agricultural practices, such as the use of fertilizers and livestock farming. A careful reader should consider the potential impact of factors like climate and soil type. A likely confounder is the amount of agricultural land per country.
Why this is not proof of anything
This is a correlation across countries, not an experiment. It cannot show that either indicator causes the other, and both may simply follow a third thing. This correlation could mislead by implying a direct causal link between crop and manure emissions, when in fact it may be driven by underlying factors like agricultural land use or economic development.
The second figure above repeats the measurement with national population and income held constant. It is the more conservative number: a relationship that largely disappears there was mostly telling you that larger, richer countries have more of most things.
How this was measured
Both indicators were ranked across every country reporting each, and the two rankings compared — ranks rather than raw values, because a handful of very large countries can otherwise manufacture a relationship on their own. The calculation is arithmetic over figures already published on this site; the commentary above is drafted from the two indicator names and the resulting coefficients.