Affordable, low-carbon fertilisers

A global consortium is developing large-scale, low-carbon fertiliser plants to deliver green fertiliser to Europe

Spotted: Agriculture is directly responsible for up to 12 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, with fertilisers alone accounting for around 5 per cent of total emissions. To reduce this, a partnership between EIT InnoEnergy, RIC Energy, MAIRE, Siemens Financial Services, InVivo, and Heineken has recently launched FertigHy, a green fertiliser provider.

The agricultural sector is responsible for over 10 per cent of the European Union’s (EU’s) total greenhouse gas emissions, and European farmers apply around 10 million tonnes of nitrogen fertilisers each year. This is why the European Commission has identified the fertiliser sector as critically important to reducing CO2 emissions.

FertigHy will build low-carbon fertiliser plants that will use green hydrogen to replace the natural gas-based feedstock used in traditional fertiliser plants. The green hydrogen itself will be produced using electrolysis powered by renewable or low-carbon electricity.

The initial plant, due to start construction in 2025, will produce more than one million metric tonnes of low-carbon fertilisers per year and will be based in Spain. FertigHy also plans to build and operate a number of large-scale low-carbon fertiliser projects in other European countries.

FertigHy is coming at a time of increasing awareness of the high CO2 and energy cost of fertiliser production. In the archive, Springwise has spotted other innovations aimed at improving sustainability in this space, including the use of biochar – produced from waste – to enrich the soil and capture CO2, and increasing support for regenerative agriculture.

Written By: Lisa Magloff