Carbon Footprinting in Fertilizer Production

With the aim to help reducing the carbon footprint of the fertilizer sector, Fertilizers Europe has developed a Carbon Footprint Calculator (CFC) for assessing direct and indirect GHG emissions related to the production of selected fertilizer products.

The tool is available free of charge and it has a worldwide coverage as well as wide acceptance within the industry, making it a real global tool for foot printing fertilizers.

The tool follows the “cradle to gate” approach where emissions associated with all stages of the product life are taken into account, from the raw material extraction, energy supply, the manufacturing process to the product storage at the production site. The emissions estimate includes both direct and indirect emissions from energy supply.

The online calculator also allows to compare results against regional references, as provided in the IFS paper. 

Together with the Carbon Trust, Fertilizers Europe has also developed a certification scheme to ensure that anyone wishing to publish results obtained with the CFC tool can get a stamp of approval. Additionally, the certified footprints could serve as input for food production carbon footprint calculators such as the Cool Farm Tool.

Calculations and comparisons with the tool show that, thanks to the continuous efforts of the industry, EU-made fertilizers have a generally lower footprint than those originating from other parts of the world.