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June 28, 2023
By
Judith Magyar

Pioneering Green Ammonia To Secure The World’s Food Supply

Global food security has been threatened before. At the beginning of the 20th century, land was becoming depleted of nutrients and less able to provide food for the increasing population. Famine raged in many countries.

Until then, natural fertilizers had been the only way of increasing crops, but supplies varied widely. Scientists at the time realized that famine could be prevented if nitrogen, which is abundant in the atmosphere, could be added to the soil. The challenge was to produce large quantities at a reasonable cost.

Yara, now the world’s leading producer of nitrogen fertilizers, was founded in 1905 to address this problem. Having established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company, today Yara is once again pioneering solutions to secure the world’s food supplies. About 24% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, more than 8 billion metric tons of CO2, stem from agriculture, forestry, and other land use. Dramatically reducing that number is Yara’s goal.


Producing green ammonia
YARA

“We’re committed to a thirty percent reduction of scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality on all scopes by 2050,” said Stéphane Bungener, part of the Energy and Environment department at Yara, at the recent TAC-sponsored International SAP Conference for Energy in Basel, Switzerland. “That’s how to create a nature positive path for the future of food.”
To reach its goals, Yara is working on reducing emissions and introducing new technologies like carbon capture and the use
of renewable hydrogen to produce its ammonia, which does not emit CO2 when consumed.
Switching to clean ammonia
Ammonia is a gas widely used to make agricultural fertilizers. It binds airborne nitrogen, the most important crop nutrient, making it available for fertilizer production. With 50 percent of the world’s food production depending on fertilizer application, ammonia literally helps put food on the table.

Producing green, or clean, ammonia is at the heart of Yara’s strategy. Unlike conventional ammonia, which is produced using natural gas as feedstock, green ammonia is produced using one hundred percent renewable and carbon free hydrogen in an electrolyzer. The electrolyzer works by extracting hydrogen from water which is then combined with nitrogen taken from the air to make green ammonia.
Tackling scope 1 emissions requires reducing Yara’s direct emissions related to its ammonia production. Scope 2 is about using clean power from the grid to run its machinery. Yara aims to reduce emissions by thirty percent by 2030. Ten percent of this reduction will be achieved with commonsense projects across global operations relating to N2O emissions abatement, energy efficiency, and energy management. The remaining twenty percent will stem from the use of clean power, green ammonia, low-carbon ammonia, and renewable energy sources.

But the really exciting part for Bungener and the team at Yara is the development of an increasingly green market on a collaborative level. “Customers are eager to start spending money on clean products. Many of them have their own decarbonization targets and are willing to buy decarbonized products,” said the green ammonia expert.

According to Bungener, chain of custody systems are an important way to enable the development of this market. These must ensure that every step in the process is monitored and third-party verified.

Proving it’s green

“We’re looking at a system where complexity is increasing significantly,” said Bungener, explaining that what traditionally had been a commodity is now becoming a differentiated product, depending on new, clean production pathways and the buyer’s specific needs relating to compliance requirements of voluntary and reglementary schemes. “Even though it might be the same molecule, it has to be described differently, and its carbon footprint may have a different value depending on its production pathway and the methodology required by customers.”

Bungener was pleased to say that Yara already has customers embarking on this journey. Customers are buying products that will be manufactured in Germany with green ammonia produced in Norway. Yara will make use of its ammonia transfer system to virtually transfer the green ammonia from Norway to Germany, thus avoiding additional transport emissions related to shipping.

“It’s crucial to show customers that we deliver what we promise to maintain trust and credibility, and that they will be the only ones to claim the benefit of the green ammonia. We are in the early stages of the transition. Such mechanisms are required until we can scale up full supply chains of clean ammonia,” said Bungener.

As custmers expect accuracy of claim, transparency on methodology, and no risk of greenwashing claims, it’s Yara’s job to demonstrate that no double counting takes place. The company’s credibility depends on its ability to make and log green exchanges and submit them for annual auditing by third party experts in assurance and risk management. Yara relies on new auditing tools and standards along with systems such as SAP governance, risk, and compliance solutions to deliver a differentiated product that meets all the requirements of their customers.

“Together with our customers, we are pioneering the use of new, clean production technologies and creating a positive impact for them and for the climate,” Bungener concluded.

Years of engagement with external benchmarking initiatives and ESG analysts such as the World Benchmarking Alliance, MSCI, Sustainalytics, EcoVadis, and CDP have helped Yara close several information gaps to improve transparency in its reporting. Yara intends to continue along this avenue to share progress towards its sustainability goals.


 

 

Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
www.exactrix.com

509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
Nathan1@greenplayammonia.com

exactrix@exactrix.com