Nutrien Ltd., Saskatoon, said on June 9 it has more than 200,000 pilot acres in the company’s carbon program, exceeding the initial 100,000-acre target provided in November (GM Nov. 30, 2020). The acres will adopt and integrate sustainable agronomic practices that improve nitrogen management and soil health that are proven to generate positive carbon outcomes.

The pilots are focused on gathering key learnings and generating carbon assets that can be scaled and monetized. The company believes the plan could increase farmers’ income by $50 per acre, with an estimated $20 coming from carbon credits and $30 from higher productivity and yields.

Nutrien also listed industry partners and supply chain stakeholders across the U.S. and Canada that will be participating in the pilots, including American Farmland Trust, BASF, Corteva Agriscience, Ingredion, Maple Leaf Foods, PepsiCo, and Syngenta. Government programs and standard bodies include Climate Action Reserve, Verra, and Gold Standard, and execution partners include Soil and Water Outcomes Fund and Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), of which Nutrien is a founding circle member.

“Nutrien’s carbon program showcases how we’re delivering on our sustainability commitments through collaboration – creating a network of growers, suppliers, government, and industry players to gather key learnings and scale this important initiative,” said Mayo Schmidt, Nutrien President and CEO. “No one company, no single government, and no standalone framework of regulations can effectively tackle the climate action we need alone. Only by working together can we make the meaningful changes needed to preserve our planet for future generations.”

In Canada, pilots are built on developed government protocols for agricultural carbon offsets in the compliance market. Growers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba will work with Nutrien to improve carbon performance through nitrogen management and conservation tillage practices to generate carbon assets.

Maple Leaf Foods is partnering with Nutrien to engage growers within its Manitoba supply chain to generate carbon outcomes that are independently verified by Gold Standard’s SustainCERT. The partnership will enable future carbon improvement opportunities across Maple Leaf’s entire Canadian supply chain and serve as a model for supporting climate action by investing in agriculture.

In the U.S., Nutrien grower customers in 15 states will plan to generate carbon assets for voluntary markets for purchase by a broad base of agricultural and non-agricultural buyers generated by utilizing the most recent Climate Action Reserve and Verra agricultural protocols.

Utilizing ESMC, Syngenta will partner with Nutrien for pilots across 10,000 acres in Northeast Iowa. Nutrien will partner with Corteva-led pilots across 10,000 acres in Central Indiana.

Utilizing the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, BASF will collaborate with Nutrien in pilots on up to 10,000 acres in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. PepsiCo and Ingredion will enable growers across 20,000 acres in Illinois. American Farmland Trust will partner with Nutrien for pilots in Ohio. The Soil and Water Outcomes Fund is jointly managed by AgOutcomes and ReHarvest Partners.

In years ahead, Nutrien plans to expand the pilots to South America and Australia.

The company said its goal is to enable growers to adopt sustainable and productive agriculture on 75 million acres by 2030.

Nutrien believes it will benefit from these carbon initiatives from increases in its service business, including precision ag and soil testing, as well as its electronic platform and sales of “climate friendly” products such as time-release fertilizers, nitrogen inhibitors, yield and soil enhancing products such as biologicals and micronutrients, variable rate fertilizer application, low- or no-till cropping, and cover crops.

Nutrien said it has invested over $800 million in the past decade in building out and investing in these technologies and products. The company noted the popularity of its ESN (Smart Nitrogen), a slow-release urea, and said it plans to continue brownfield capacity increases for the product. The company currently produces ESN at its plants in Carseland, Alta., and New Madrid, Mo., with an overall capacity of approximately 465,000 mt/y. It is evaluating opportunities to increase that capacity by approximately 10-15 percent.

Over the next decade the company expects to deploy $500-$700 million to achieve its goals, which include a 30 percent reduction in the intensity of its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.

“We have a short-term target for Nutrien’s nitrogen business to eliminate 1 million mt of CO2 equivalent by the end of 2023,” said Mark Thompson, Nutrien Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Development & Strategy Officer. “Our first set of actions will be to implement a set of high-impact projects to achieve this.

“We are deploying a range of energy efficiency solutions in our operating facilities, increasing carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration, while also installing the best available N2O abatement technology in our nitric acid facilities,” he continued. “Additionally, we plan to deploy self-generated wind and solar projects at four potash sites by 2025, providing scalable zero-carbon power.

“We also plan to deploy efficient co-generated electricity and steam at various production sites. These initiatives are expected to not only lower emissions, but also reduce production costs and improve reliability at our facilities. We’ve been actively pursuing the development of low-carbon ammonia for more than a decade, which has positioned us as the leading global producer of low-carbon ammonia with up to 1 million mt of low-carbon ammonia available through our network today,” Thompson added.

The company said it sells the product today, with it produced at its plants in Geismar, La., and Redwater and Joffre, Alta.

Nutrien Vice President and CEO of Nitrogen and Phosphate Raef Sully said the company is looking at three different technologies for the production of blue and green ammonia, including electrolysis from renewable resources, pyrolysis of methane, and auto-thermal reforming.

Sully said there is a lot of potential for green ammonia in the future, and sees the initial areas of focus long-distance transportation – trucks, trains, and ocean-going vessels. He said the company is actively looking at those opportunities and is in discussions.

Nutrien is still to select a location for a hydrogen generator it plans to lease from BayoTech Inc., Albuquerque, an onsite hydrogen production company (GM April 24, 2020). Nutrien is expected to deploy the generator at one of its nitrogen fertilizer plants. The company will operate the unit for supplemental hydrogen, while BayoTech will perform maintenance and 24/7 remote monitoring.