Dirty Supply Chains: How Fracked Gas Props Up Europe’s Fertiliser Giant

In a fast-warming world, the polluting fertiliser industry is under pressure to clean up its act.

In response, the sector spins a green image with slick PR. Leading the charge is Yara, the biggest fertiliser producer in Europe, claiming the market can continue to grow with the help of innovative “low-emission”’ products.

But Yara and the industry are not as green as they seem. Fertilisers, including most “sustainable" ones, are predominantly made from natural gas – including fuel which is fracked and imported from the U.S., where production is opposed by marginalised communities.

This investigation unmasks Yara’s dirty supply chain and the sustainability challenges the sector faces. It comes as the industry looks to expand into the shipping and energy sectors – touting its low-carbon ammonia, the central component of fertiliser production, as a miracle chemical for decarbonising these industries.

Key findings:

• Yara and the fertiliser industry are widely touting “low-carbon” fertiliser and ammonia as a solution to climate breakdown. But most of these chemicals are and will remain made using natural gas.
• In the U.S., Yara’s only operational ammonia plant in fact relies on fracked gas from the nearby Permian Basin and other shale fields, which have been called a ‘carbon bomb’ for their enormous climate warming potential. A significant chunk of this ammonia is transported to Yara’s factories in Norway, where it is converted to finished fertilisers for sale in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere.
• Companies argue that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can decarbonise these supply chains, despite the fact that CCS has repeatedly failed to meet its promised potential and does not address emissions from gas supply chains or fertiliser use. Yara recently shelved two renewable fertiliser projects, while continuing to promote CCS use.
• Ammonia production is set to boom, driven by claims that the chemical can help decarbonise the shipping and energy sectors in Europe and abroad. But the vast majority of this production will rely on natural gas.
• Communities in Texas are fiercely resisting the buildout, including Yara’s plans to build a new plant in the town of Ingleside. They warn that production could devastate local health and ecosystems along the surrounding Corpus Christi Bay, and say that companies like Yara are targeting the state due to its “lax” enforcement of environmental laws, as well as its access to cheap shale gas and the Atlantic for exports to Europe and elsewhere.

Image: Freeport, Texas (c) Sara Sneath.