A new study shows that pesticides are a key contributor to climate change, from their manufacturing, transportation, and application, all the way to their degradation and disposal. That’s according to researchers at the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), who say that while pesticides have been critical tools in agricultural production, their efficacy is on the decline while climate change exacerbates the need to use more.

According to PANNA, the pesticide-climate change connection is a loop: Pesticides add emissions to the atmosphere that accelerate climate change, warming climates stress agricultural systems and increase the number of pests and insects, requiring more pesticides.

Compared to agriculture chemicals like nitrogen fertilizer, with well-known negative environmental impacts, greenhouse gas emissions from pesticides are understudied and underestimated. Producing one kilogram of pesticide requires, on average, 10 times more energy than one kilogram of nitrogen fertilizer.