PepsiCo, Yara to Provide Farmers with Low-Carbon Fertilizers, Tools to Decarbonize Food Production

PepsiCo Europe announced today the launch of a new long-term partnership with crop nutrition company Yara aimed at providing farms in the EU and UK with low-carbon fertilizers, crop nutrition programs, and other tools to help decarbonize the food value chain.

According to PepsiCo and Yara, the collaboration is intended to support farmers and reduce their costs through the transition to meet EU goals for sustainable food production. Agriculture has emerged as a major focus area for climate action, as the sector accounts for a significant proportion of GHG emissions, and is among the most difficult areas in which to address climate impact. Agriculture contributes a significant proportion of the climate impact of the food and beverage sector, which in turn accounts for approximately a third of global GHG emissions.

Under the new program, PepsiCo and Yara will help farmers across Europe adopt low-carbon agricultural practices, with the companies providing lower carbon footprint fertilizers, precision farming digital tools, and best-practice agronomic advice. The companies said that the program aims to reach around 1,000 farms and 128,000 hectares across the EU and the UK.

The new initiative follows the launch by PepsiCo in 2021 of its wide-ranging sustainability agenda, pep+, which includes “Positive Agriculture” as one of its three key pillars, with a goal to spread regenerative practices across the company’s 7 million acre agricultural footprint.

Archana Jagannathan, Chief Sustainability Officer at PepsiCo Europe said:

“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.”

Yara will deliver up to 165,000 tons of primarily Yara Climate Choice fertilizer per year to PepsiCo, covering around 25% of the company’s crop fertilizer needs in Europe by 2030. These include low-carbon-footprint fertilizers produced from renewable ammonia, or from low-carbon ammonia via carbon capture and storage (CCS) from a facility currently under construction in Yara Sluiskil. The mix will also include Yara’s standard premium nitrate-based mineral fertilizers produced using natural gas.

The program will begin with potato farms, and is expected to expand to other crops such as oats and corn. PepsiCo said 29% of carbon emissions for its potato operations in Europe are related to fertilizer production and 25% to fertilizer in-field emissions.

Mónica Andrés Enríquez, Executive Vice President for Europe at Yara said:

“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.”