PepsiCo Europe has this week announced a major new partnership with Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara that will see it offer support to around 1,000 farms across Europe to help them slash emissions associated with crop production.
The partnership, which spans multiple countries, will see participating PepsiCo Europe farmers provided with best-in-class crop nutrition products, low carbon fertilisers, and advice, as well as precision farming digital tools that are designed to improve yields and reduce environmental impacts.
Through the deal Yara is set to deliver up to 165,000 tons of fertiliser a year, covering around 25 per cent of crop fertiliser needs across the food giant’s European supply chain.
The fertilisers will mostly come from Yara’s Climate Choice range, which includes low-carbon footprint fertilisers produced from either renewable ammonia or low-carbon ammonia that is set to be produced from a new carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant currently under construction in Yara Sluiskil.
The mix will also include Yara’s standard premium nitrate-based mineral fertilisers produced using natural gas, which has a carbon footprint that is around 50 per cent lower than most non-EU fertilisers thanks to the use of the company’s catalyst technology.
But the aim of the partnership is to guarantee long term demand for low carbon fertilisers that will allow the company to scale up production to ultimately deliver the full 165,000 tons a year using its Yara Climate Choice range by 2030.
“This partnership with Yara aligns with our end-to-end transformation known as PepsiCo Positive (pep+) and will be critical as we transition towards the net zero food system of the future,” said Archana Jagannathan, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo Europe. “Targeting Scope 3 emissions is central to our pep+ agenda, but it can be one of the most challenging areas to directly influence. Providing our farmers with fertilisers that have a lower carbon footprint and supporting them to improve crop nutrition end-to-end will allow us to make a significant step towards our target of achieving net zero by 2040.”
The partnership will initially focus on potato farmers, but the intention is to then expand the initiative to cover oats, corn, and other crops. The companies said the aim was to support participating farmers in meeting the transition costs associated with more sustainable practices to ensure they can cut emissions without adversely impacting their livelihoods.
“To grow a nature-positive food future and transform our food system, we need to collaborate across the food value chain,” said Mónica Andrés Enríquez, executive vice president for Europe at Yara. “We’re excited to work with first movers like PepsiCo to help make this a reality. Decarbonising food production will be critical to delivering on the Paris Agreement – and farmers will play a key role in helping us get there.”
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