FertigHy’s low-carbon fertilizer aims to help the food chain become more sustainable

With the new company FertigHy, founders EIT InnoEnergy, RIC Energy, MAIRE, Siemens Financial Services, InVivo, and Heineken aim to drive the transition to a low-carbon European fertilizer industry. FertigHy expects to produce affordable and low-carbon fertilizers for European farmers, offering a solution to global food security caused by, among other things, uncertainty about the availability of natural gas.

FertigHy is building its first plant in Spain. Using this plant as an example, similar plants will be built elsewhere in Europe thereafter. Several large-scale low-carbon fertilizer projects will be started and operated at the plant. The low-CO2, nitrogen fertilizers are produced with 100% renewable electricity and green hydrogen.

The agricultural sector alone is responsible for 13% of total European greenhouse gas emissions, and European farmers use more than 11 million tons of nitrogen fertilizers per year (nutrient-based). In the October 2022 Communication on Ensuring Availability and Affordability of Fertilisers, the European Commission identified the fertilizer industry as a crucial sector and therefore supports the transition to low-carbon fertilizers. With FertigHy, European industrial players are investing in making the economy CO2-free, in this case, via fertilizers.

The US Inflation Reduction Act was part of why the EU decided to establish operations like FertigHy, as they offer solutions to the EU’s challenges. FertigHy’s goal is to reduce two million tons of CO2 per plant per year with subsequent expansions.

The moment is crucial for José Antonio de las Heras, CEO of FertigHy. “It has never been more urgent than now to decarbonize and collectively get our fertilizer production back in Europe. With a plethora of factors at play in Europe in 2023, now is the time to ensure a greener and more independent industry for all. FertigHy will rebuild resilience against disrupted supply chains while promoting sovereignty for the agriculture industry and security of supply by accelerating the decarbonization of the food value chain.”

According to Jacob Ruiter, Managing Director of EGHAC, FertigHy’s ambitions align with the EU’s Fit-for-55 Package and the recent REPowerEU and Green Deal Industrial Plan. “We are thus demonstrating how we enable the competitiveness of the European energy-neutral industry. This investment also signals EIT InnoEnergy’s commitment to industries where sustainability is struggling and a milestone of our continued success with EGHAC.”

Heineken managing director Dolf van den Brink sees the partnership as an additional step in his company’s move toward carbon neutral by 2040: “I’m proud that we’re unleashing our entrepreneurial spirit to decarbonise our agricultural footprint, which accounts for 19% of our total emissions.”