A decade of missed opportunities: how Europe went off-track to reduce nitrogen pollution over the last decade

A decade of missed opportunities: how Europe went off-track to reduce nitrogen pollution over the last decade | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Brief Communication A decade of missed opportunities: how Europe went off-track to reduce nitrogen pollution over the last decade Masooma Batool, Wim De Vries, Gerard H. Ros, Mark Sutton, Fanny Sarrazin, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9290508/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The European Union's Green Deal aims to reduce nutrient losses to air and water by 50% by 2030, requiring a substantial reduction in nitrogen (N) surplus from agricultural land. Using Europe-wide datasets of N budget, we show that cropland N surplus declined during 1990–2010 but reversed in 2011–2020 due largely to increasing synthetic fertilizer use and relatively lower crop N uptake. Our assessment highlights the need for improved nitrogen-use efficiency and regionally tailored strategies, while considering climate change impacts on N uptake, to reduce N pollution and meet EU environmental targets. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Earth and environmental sciences/Biogeochemistry/Element cycles Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supplementary.pdf Supplementary file Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9290508","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Brief Communication","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":626176500,"identity":"6df0bd8e-4446-4f8d-af3a-53d8e990d164","order_by":0,"name":"Masooma Batool","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDADAzBZYMPA3sDAIEGkFmYQmcbAc4BELYcJa9FtP/7wwcccOwZz9vMHH3wwOJ/Yw3+A8cYHPFrMzuQYG87clsxg2ZPMbDjD4HZiD8MBZssZ+LQcyGGT5t3GzGBwIJlNmgeoZT9jA5CBT8v558+AWuoZDM4/Bmk5l9jDzMAm/QeflhsJZkAthxkMboBtOZDYwwbUgs/7ZjfegPxynMdyxmNjoF+SjXt4GJste/A6LB0YYtuq5cz5Ex8++FBhJ9vDf/jgjR/4rIECZP8yNhChYRSMglEwCkYBPgAAl9tJ5xtd/hMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1385-2512","institution":"UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Masooma","middleName":"","lastName":"Batool","suffix":""},{"id":626176501,"identity":"81e4f0d6-f007-4f71-8fd4-f4ecfe860b57","order_by":1,"name":"Wim De Vries","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9974-0612","institution":"Wageningen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wim","middleName":"","lastName":"De Vries","suffix":""},{"id":626176502,"identity":"8e6ec3bf-c526-4b92-a3ea-9851de628767","order_by":2,"name":"Gerard H. 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