Cultivating a Lower-Carbon Food Supply Chain

Agriculture contributes roughly one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, with nitrogen fertilizer production, distribution, and use generating an estimated 1.31 gigatons of CO2-equivalent annually. While low-emission solutions like renewable-powered electrolysis exist, high costs and fragmented supply chains prevent scaling, as farmers cannot absorb price premiums and food companies lack direct mechanisms to fund producers. To bridge this gap, RMI and the Center for Green Market Activation (GMA) are launching a pilot book-and-claim system. This allows food and beverage companies to purchase Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) to claim verified emissions reductions toward Scope 3 targets, providing producers with the revenue certainty needed to finance capital-intensive green ammonia projects without disrupting conventional farmer procurement.

• Nitrogen fertilizers are essential for global food security, as synthetic nitrogen inputs prevent a projected 50% decline in global cereal production, yet they generate approximately 1.31 gigatons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually, with about 40% originating from production.
• Scaling low-emission fertilizer technologies, such as green ammonia production by companies like First Ammonia, NitroVolt, Atlas Agro, and TalusAg, is hindered by a fragmented value chain where corporate buyers are 5-6 steps removed from manufacturers.
• A book-and-claim system using Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs) decouples environmental attributes from physical product flow, allowing food and beverage companies to fund low-emission projects and meet Scope 3 targets while farmers continue to buy fertilizer at commodity prices.
• The financial impact on food companies supporting these premiums is estimated to be minimal, resulting in only 1-2% increases in packaged goods prices.

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} }