Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain

RMI and the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) are launching a pilot book-and-claim procurement system to reduce Scope 3 emissions in the food supply chain. The initiative allows food and beverage companies to purchase Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) to financially support low-emission fertilizer projects, bypassing the fragmented supply chain and providing producers with the revenue certainty needed to scale green ammonia and other low-carbon technologies.

• Nitrogen fertilizers are critical for global food security, as synthetic nitrogen inputs prevent a projected 50% decline in global cereal production. However, they have a significant climate impact, with production, distribution, and use generating approximately 1.31 gigatons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually, 40% of which come from production itself.
• While low-emission fertilizer technologies like renewable-powered electrolysis and green ammonia production exist, they face structural barriers to scaling. Fertilizer producers require long-term financial commitments to fund capital-intensive projects, but farmers operating on thin margins cannot absorb the cost premiums.
• Food and beverage companies are positioned to support the transition because they have the creditworthiness and willingness to pay for Scope 3 emissions reductions. The cost impact on these companies is minimal, as premiums would only result in 1-2% increases in packaged goods prices.
• A 'book-and-claim' system using Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) decouples environmental attributes from the physical product flow. This allows corporate buyers to claim verified emissions reductions toward Scope 3 targets and provides producers with revenue to cover green premiums without requiring the physical low-carbon fertilizer to be traced through the complex supply chain to the end buyer.
• The Low-Emissions Fertilizer Initiative by GMA and RMI aims to aggregate demand from food and beverage companies to de-risk producer investments. This model is based on existing frameworks used in other hard-to-abate sectors, such as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in electricity markets, as well as aviation, steel, cement, trucking, maritime fuel, and plastics.

APA

RMI (2026). Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain. https://rmi.org/resources/cultivating-a-lower-carbon-food-supply-chain/

Chicago

RMI. Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain. 2026. https://rmi.org/resources/cultivating-a-lower-carbon-food-supply-chain/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain |date=28 January 2026 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/cultivating-a-lower-carbon-food-supply-chain/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2026cultivating, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2026}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/cultivating-a-lower-carbon-food-supply-chain/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }