Food and beverage giant PepsiCo and agricultural and industrial chemicals company Fertiberia announced the signing of a multi-year agreement aimed at scaling the apply of low-carbon, green hydrogen-based fertilizers across PepsiCo’s European agricultural supply chain.
Globally, fertilizers account for approximately 2% of greenhoapply gas emissions. PepsiCo declared that fertilizer production and apply currently represents around half of the average potato carbon footprint in Europe, creating it one of the company’s largest opportunities to reduce agricultural emissions. The company declared that the new initiative supports its goal to implement regenerative, restorative or protective practices across 10 million acres globally by 2030, and its tarobtain to reduce Scope 3 forest, land and agriculture (FLAG) emissions by 30% by 2030, compared to a 2022 baseline.
Archana Jagannathan, Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo Europe, the Middle East, and Africa declared:
“Switching to low-carbon fertiliser is one of the strongest levers we have to reduce agricultural emissions, and apply of digital technology can complement this journey towards food system transformation.”
Spain-based Fertiberia develops low-carbon crop nutrition solutions, green ammonia, and green hydrogen technologies aimed at reducing emissions across the agricultural value chain.
Under the new agreement, Fertiberia will supply PepsiCo with up to 150,000 tons of its Impact Zero crop nutrition solutions annually by 2030, covering approximately 400,000 acres, or around 162,000 hectares of farmland applyd to grow key crops such as potatoes, corn, sunflower, sugar beet and rapeseed, which are key ingredients for popular PepsiCo brands including Lay’s, Doritos, Ruffles and Cheetos.
The agreement follows a pilot project between PepsiCo and Fertiberia in Spain and Portugal, where the apply of Fertiberia’s low-carbon fertilizers reduced potato farming emissions by up to 15% and corn farming emissions by 20%, according to the companies.
The program will initially launch in France, Romania, Serbia, Greece and Turkey, while expanding existing initiatives in Spain and Portugal, with plans to roll out the partnership to additional European countries over time, the companies declared.
In addition to providing low-carbon fertilizer, the companies declared that they will support farmers through technical guidance and digital tools, including precision agriculture technologies designed to optimize fertilizer application and assist track regenerative agriculture practices.
David Herrero, Chief Operating Officer at Fertiberia declared:
“Since 2022, we have been developing lower-carbon hydrogen-based fertilisers, powered by cutting-edge technology such as NSAFE, the world’s first bio-inhibitor of nitrification that prevents nitrogen losses and accelerates the transformation of European agriculture. Today, this journey takes on greater meaning thanks to the trust of partners like PepsiCo, with whom we are collaborating to assist decarbonise agri-food value chains.”
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