The biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen (N) has been profoundly altered by human activities, including agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, industrial production, biomass burning, and wastewater management. Progress has been made in high income countries to abate nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from fossil fuel combustion, but nitrate leaching and emissions of NOx, nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) from the agricultural sector are increasing in most of the world. For example, atmospheric concentration of N2O, the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and the largest currently emitted stratospheric ozone depleting substance, is increasing exponentially, due primarily to the inefficient use of fertilizers in food production systems. Abatement of anthropogenic N2O emissions must be grounded in sustainable nitrogen management approaches across economic sectors and scientific disciplines. Due to strong linkages among forms of N in the N cycle, co-benefits of N2O abatement can provide concomitant reduction of other forms of N pollution that also affect environmental quality and human health, such as NOx, NH3, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and nitrate leaching. The emergent technology of synthesizing ammonia from renewable energy (“green ammonia”) for use as fuel and fertilizer offers opportunities and potential risks of further disrupting the N cycle. Some N pollution abatement measures are already technically and economically feasible, but others, particularly those related to agricultural losses of N, will require ambitious policy initiatives and technological development informed by interdisciplinary science.