Argus launches first low and zero-carbon nitrogen fertilizer assessments

Date:03-22-2024

Global energy and commodity price reporting service Argus launches the world's first assessments for low and zero-carbon calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN), an important nitrogen-based fertilizer used extensively in Europe.

The new calculated assessments show the cost of producing CAN with either blue ammonia — made using natural gas, but such that associated carbon emissions are permanently stored or re-used — or with green ammonia, made using renewable energy.

The fertilizer industry is addressing the need to decarbonise, and nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for the majority of its direct and indirect emissions. Producing CAN with a lower carbon footprint is seen as one way of enabling the continued production and use of nitrogen fertilizers, maintaining their critical role in enhancing crop yields, but with lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Argus is also publishing new calculated CAN assessments that anticipate the introduction of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in 2026. The CBAM will ensure that imported CAN is treated in the same way as domestically-produced CAN under the EU emissions trading system (ETS), meaning that imports to the EU will also be subject to the cost of controlling emissions. Argus' calculations include the current ETS cost of carbon in CAN of different carbon intensities.

The new assessments will give producers, consumers, traders and other companies in the nitrogen fertilizer industry in Europe a clearer understanding of the implications of changes in the market which target a reduction or elimination of emissions from nitrogen fertilizers, and the costs of doing so.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: "We have worked with the nitrogen fertilizer industry to identify the markets where it needs increased transparency and clarity. The energy transition requires significant investment and forward planning as well as action now, and these new cost assessments provide critical data that will inform better business decisions."