Europe needs to accelerate its efforts to produce low-carbon bread to help meet its emissions targets, Financial Times reports, citing statements by Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara International head Svein Tore Holsether. The fertilizers needed for wheat production contribute nearly half of the emissions from the production of a loaf of bread, Holsether said. Decarbonizing the process is easy but needs financial support from governments to make green fertilizers financially attractive as the current market conditions make it challenging.

Yara is leading the efforts in the push for green fertilizers: Yara International is addressing the issue with green fertilizer initiatives, including the opening of Europe’s largest green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Norway, Holsether said. The company also signed an agreement in July with Norwegian firm Scatec to set up a green ammonia plant in Egypt’s Damietta with initial investments of some USD 890 mn

And lining up supply agreements in our region: The company signed an offtake agreement for green ammonia with Green Hydrogen and Chemicals Company — a subsidiary of Indian renewable energy company Acme Cleantech — last March to buy 100k tons of green ammonia annually from its Oman plant. Yara also recently signed a term sheet with AM Green’s green ammonia production division Greenko ZeroC for the supply of green ammonia from India.

But challenges remain: The production of green ammonia is more expensive due to the use of renewable energy. Many green hydrogen projects have been shelved, with less than a third expected to be operational by the end of the decade. Such obstacles in advancing the production of green ammonia “should not be underestimated”, Holsether said as he highlighted the higher costs of renewable energy in Europe and the lack of investment in renewable energy as significant barriers.

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