The Fertiliser That Feeds Half the World Runs on Natural Gas
Nitrogen fertiliser is the agricultural input that underpins the food production capacity of the world's most intensively farmed regions, whose crop yields without synthetic nitrogen application would be insufficient to feed the global population at current levels. The Haber-Bosch process, which synthesises ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen at high temperature and pressure over an iron catalyst, requires the hydrogen feedstock that is produced almost exclusively from natural gas or coal through steam methane reforming or coal gasification, making ammonia production the agricultural input whose production is most directly linked to natural gas prices and whose carbon emissions from both the energy required for high-temperature synthesis and the carbon dioxide produced as a byproduct of hydrogen production make ammonia manufacturing the most carbon-intensive step in the food production chain. The global ammonia market produces approximately 185 million tonnes per year, of which approximately eighty percent is used for nitrogen fertiliser in the form of ammonia directly, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and urea, and approximately two percent is currently produced from renewable electricity through water electrolysis to produce green hydrogen whose combination with atmospheric nitrogen through the Haber-Bosch process defines green ammonia.
The green ammonia fertiliser market is at the inflection point where the first commercial-scale production facilities are transitioning from demonstration projects to operational plants whose economics are being tested against the conventional ammonia market at current renewable electricity costs and carbon pricing levels. The green ammonia market, valued at approximately $280 million in 2025 and growing at over sixty percent annually toward $5 billion by 2030 as large-scale projects reach production, reflects the convergence of policy incentives including the US Inflation Reduction Act's $3 per kilogram green hydrogen production credit, EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism tariffs that make imported conventional ammonia more expensive in European markets, and the fertiliser price volatility from natural gas price spikes that the Russia-Ukraine conflict created in 2022 and whose recurrence risk has elevated energy price security as a strategic consideration for agricultural importing nations.
Yara Herøya and the Commercial Pilot
Yara International, the Norwegian fertiliser company whose Herøya industrial complex in Porsgrunn is the largest ammonia production site in Norway, commissioned its green ammonia demonstration plant at Herøya in 2022 using a twenty-four megawatt Nel Hydrogen alkaline electrolyser to produce approximately five thousand tonnes per year of green ammonia from Norwegian hydroelectric electricity and atmospheric nitrogen through a conventional Haber-Bosch synthesis loop. The Herøya demonstration, while small relative to a commercial-scale ammonia plant whose capacity would be measured in hundreds of thousands of tonnes per year, established the operational data on electrolyser-to-synthesis integration, green ammonia product quality, and the economics of small-scale green Haber-Bosch that the commercial-scale investment case requires. Yara's larger ambition, its Yara Clean Ammonia business unit whose portfolio of green and low-carbon ammonia production projects spans Norway, Australia, and the United States, is creating the industrial-scale green ammonia supply chain that its existing fertiliser customer relationships and ammonia distribution infrastructure can serve as the cost of renewable electricity enables green ammonia to approach cost parity with conventional ammonia at carbon prices that European and increasingly other markets are implementing.
CF Industries, the US nitrogen fertiliser company whose Donaldsonville, Louisiana complex is the world's largest single ammonia production site, announced in 2021 its 20,000-tonne-per-year green ammonia production unit using a Nel Hydrogen electrolyser and its existing Haber-Bosch infrastructure, with commissioning completed in 2023. The unit's production of green ammonia from solar and wind power in Louisiana, which is sold to Mosaic Company for fertiliser production, represents the US commercial green ammonia reference whose cost and logistics data is informing the larger-scale investment decisions that both CF Industries and its competitors are evaluating for subsequent project phases. Topsoe, the Danish catalysis and energy company whose solid oxide electrolysis cell technology for high-temperature water electrolysis provides substantially higher efficiency than alkaline or PEM electrolysis at the operating temperatures that ammonia synthesis plant waste heat can provide, has established the commercial position in green ammonia process technology that its integration of electrolyser and Haber-Bosch into a single optimised process package creates for large-scale green ammonia projects.
The Cost Parity Trajectory and Agricultural Adoption
The commercial viability of green ammonia for fertiliser production at scale depends on the cost trajectory that green hydrogen production follows as renewable electricity costs continue to decline and electrolyser manufacturing scale increases. The current green ammonia production cost of approximately $600 to $1,200 per tonne depending on renewable electricity cost and electrolyser capital must converge toward the $200 to $350 per tonne range that conventional ammonia trades at under normal gas price conditions to achieve the market penetration that agricultural decarbonisation requires beyond the policy-incentive-driven early adoption phase. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which applies a carbon price to ammonia imports proportional to their production emissions, creates the pricing signal that makes green ammonia competitive in European fertiliser markets before it achieves production cost parity with conventional ammonia, accelerating European agricultural supply chain green ammonia adoption beyond what unassisted market economics would drive.
Top 10 Companies in Green Ammonia for Fertiliser Production Globally
- Yara International: Norwegian fertiliser company with Herøya green ammonia demonstration and Yara Clean Ammonia commercial business unit; its operational green ammonia plant and its global ammonia distribution infrastructure create the fertiliser company best positioned to convert its conventional ammonia customer base to green ammonia supply as production scale reduces cost.
- CF Industries: US nitrogen fertiliser company with 20,000-tonne-per-year green ammonia unit at Donaldsonville commissioned in 2023; its Mosaic Company offtake agreement and its large-scale Haber-Bosch infrastructure create the US commercial green ammonia reference whose production economics inform the next phase of large-scale US green ammonia investment.
- Topsoe: Danish catalysis and energy technology company with solid oxide electrolysis and integrated green ammonia process technology; its SOEC high-temperature electrolyser efficiency and its Haber-Bosch process integration create the most energy-efficient green ammonia production technology whose commercial licence is the process foundation for large-scale green ammonia projects.
- Nel Hydrogen: Norwegian electrolyser company with alkaline electrolyser supply to Yara Herøya and CF Industries green ammonia units; its electrolyser scale-up capacity and its established green ammonia project references create the electrolyser supplier whose systems underpin the first commercial-scale green ammonia production units in Europe and North America.
- Siemens Energy: German energy technology company with PEM electrolyser and green ammonia process integration for large-scale projects; its PEM electrolysis technology whose dynamic response to renewable electricity intermittency suits wind and solar-powered green ammonia production and its Haber-Bosch integration create the integrated green ammonia process technology provider.
- thyssenkrupp Uhde: German engineering company with alkaline water electrolysis systems and Haber-Bosch process technology for green ammonia plants; its electrolyser and ammonia synthesis technology licensing and its engineering, procurement and construction capability create the integrated project developer and technology licensor for large-scale green ammonia production facilities.
- OQ Alternative Energy (Ibri): Omani green ammonia project with 25MW electrolyser and 10,000 tonne per year green ammonia production in Ibri; its Middle East renewable electricity and its proximity to Asian fertiliser import markets create the Gulf green ammonia project whose economics benefit from the low-cost solar electricity that the Oman climate provides for the electrolysis energy input.
- Origin Energy: Australian energy company with green ammonia production project in Queensland targeting Japanese import market; its Australian renewable electricity resources and its Japanese energy customer relationships create the Australian green ammonia project whose Asian fertiliser market access through Japanese trading company partnerships defines its commercial pathway.
- Fertiberia: Spanish fertiliser company with green ammonia production project at Puertollano using wind electricity and Iberdrola's renewable energy; its ISCC-certified green ammonia production and its Spanish fertiliser market relationships create the European fertiliser company whose green ammonia commercial certification demonstrates the supply chain traceability that European agricultural buyers increasingly require.
- Mosaic Company: US fertiliser company and green ammonia offtake partner for CF Industries; its fertiliser blending and distribution infrastructure and its US agricultural customer base create the fertiliser company whose green ammonia purchasing commitment provides the commercial demand signal that incentivises green ammonia production investment upstream of its own manufacturing operations.