Livestock emissions linked to manure management
Comparing Manure Management — Emissions (CO2eq) from N2O (AR5) with Emissions from livestock — Emissions (CO2eq) from CH4 (AR5) across 181 countries, 2023–2050.
- Rank correlation
- +0.86
- Holding size constant
- +0.55
- Countries compared
- 181
- Period
- 2023–2050
What might link these
The correlation between emissions from livestock and manure management might be due to the fact that both are related to agricultural practices. A careful reader should be cautious about assuming causation and consider factors like agricultural land use or fertilizer application as potential confounders. The relationship could be influenced by these underlying factors.
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. The correlation might be misleading because it does not account for other factors that could drive both indicators, such as agricultural subsidies or environmental policies.
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.