Yara to supply low-carbon fertilizer to PepsiCo in Europe

Potatoes for crisps

Yara will begin supplying up to 165,000 tons of fertilizer per year to PepsiCo Europe for distribution to participating European farmers. Initially, most of this volume will be “Yara Climate Choice fertilizers”, which includes fertilizer produced from renewable ammonia (Herøya, Norway) or CCS-based ammonia (Sluiskil, Netherlands). As production at these two sites scales up, the proportion of “Yara Climate Choice fertilizers” supplied to PepsiCo will increase over time, reaching 100% by 2030.

This 165,000 tons will cover around 25% of PepsiCo’s crop fertiliszer needs in Europe, focusing first on potato crops, and then moving into other key crops such as oats and corn. As well as the fertilizer, digital tools to help improve yields and boost nutrient use efficiency will be distributed to around 1,000 farms, covering a total of around 128,000 hectares across the EU and the UK.The pair have also committed the supporting extra costs to farmers during this transition “to ensure their livelihoods are not adversely impacted”. PepsiCo estimates that, of its average potato carbon footprint in Europe:

29 percent is related to fertilizer production emissions and 25 percent to fertilizer in-field emissions. The partnership will support the 24 percentage point reduction target in production emissions and the 5 percentage point reduction target for in-field emission while maintaining crop quality and yields.

Emission reduction goals of the partnership, from Yara’s official press release, 16 July 2024

This partnership with Yara aligns with our end-to-end transformation known as PepsiCo Positive (pep+) and will be critical as we transition towards the net-zero food system of the future. Targeting Scope 3 emissions is central to our pep+ agenda, but it can be one of the most challenging areas to directly influence. Providing our farmers with fertilizers that have a lower carbon footprint and supporting them to improve crop nutrition end-to-end will allow us to make a significant step towards our target of achieving net zero by 2040.

Archana Jagannathan, Chief Sustainability Officer at PepsiCo Europe in Yara’s official press release, 16 July 2024

To grow a nature-positive food future and transform our food system, we need to collaborate across the food value chain. We’re excited to work with first movers like PepsiCo to help make this a reality. Decarbonizing food production will be critical to delivering on the Paris Agreement – and farmers will play a key role in helping us get there.

Mónica Andrés Enríquez, Executive Vice President for Europe at Yara in his organisation’s official press release, 16 July 2024

Last year, PepsiCo announced a successful trial of Fertiberia’s low-carbon fertilizer, produced from renewable ammonia at Fertiberia’s facility in Puertollano. Both potato crops (which also went towards the production of Lay’s potato crisps) and barley crops (which went towards the production of Heineken beer) were the subject of the 2023 trials.