A practical roadmap to decarbonise a sector the world’s food system depends on, balancing emissions reduction with food affordability, food security, and long-term resilience.
An EBRD initiative, developed by ERM and Systemiq, in collaboration with the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), with significant input from industry through workshops, surveys, and feedback.
Phosphate and potash fertilizers are foundational to the global food system, underpinning agricultural productivity, crop resilience, and food security worldwide. Yet their production is energy- and resource-intensive and increasingly exposed to climate, policy, and market risk.
The roadmap sets out how to cut emissions by 75-90% in both production and use phases, with four priority actions:
- Low-carbon energy underpins the system, displacing fossil-based power and steam.
- Carbon capture and electrification unlock reductions in process emissions.
- Downstream emissions can be reduced by nutrient use efficiency – smarter use of fertilisers through precision agriculture and crop rotation, which also saves input costs
- In the longer term, alternative pathways can reduce dependence on sulphur, a quarter of which comes from the Gulf
This first-of-its-kind roadmap sets out the direction of travel for decarbonising phosphate and potash production towards 2050, in alignment with the Paris Agreement and the IPCC’s net zero goals. Achieving this will require significant technological, policy, and investment progress beyond current trajectories, but would deliver major benefits: lower exposure to volatile input and energy costs, better access to concessional finance, and stronger resilience against supply shocks.
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