PepsiCo Europe has entered into a long-term partnership with fertiliser maker Yara to decarbonise its food production chain.
The partnership will see PepsiCo Europe offering participating farmers crop nutrition products and advice, as well as precision farming digital tools across multiple countries, the company added.
These solutions will help farmers increase nutrient use efficiency (NUE), boost yields, and reduce the carbon footprint of their crops.
Yara will supply PepsiCo with the products and services, the snack and beverage giant noted.
Archana Jagannathan, chief sustainability officer at PepsiCo Europe, stated, “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.
“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.”
Low-Carbon Footprint Fertilisers
The collaboration will see Yara delivering up to 165,000 tonnes of fertiliser annually to PepsiCo, covering around 25% of crop fertiliser needs in Europe by 2030.
It will mainly comprise low-carbon footprint fertilisers produced from renewable ammonia (Herøya, Norway) or low-carbon ammonia via carbon capture and storage (CCS), currently under construction in Yara Sluiskil.
The mix will also include Yara’s standard premium nitrate-based mineral fertilisers produced using natural gas, which have a carbon footprint that is around 50% lower than most non-EU fertilisers due to the use of catalyst technology.
Through this partnership, PepsiCo Europe will gradually switch to Yara Climate Choice fertilisers, aiming to use 165,000 tonnes annually by 2030.
The teaming up also underlines the companies’ shared commitment to building a more sustainable food system in line with the European Union’s climate targets, PepsiCo noted.
Mónica Andrés Enríquez, executive vice president for Europe at Yara, stated, “To grow a nature-positive food future and transform our food system, we need to collaborate across the food value chain. 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.”
The partnership will also support farmers through transition costs to ensure their livelihoods are not adversely impacted.
Regenerative Agriculture
Approximately 1,000 farms, covering around 128,000 hectares across the European Union and the UK, will benefit from this partnership.
It will help drive the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices and initial efforts will centre around potatoes, a key crop for PepsiCo, and then expand to other crops such as oats and corn.
Fertiliser production and in-field emissions account for half of PepsiCo’s average potato carbon footprint in Europe.
Fertilizer production accounts for 29% of emissions, while 25% is from in-field emissions.
The partnership will support a 24 percentage point reduction target in production emissions and a five percentage point reduction target for in-field emissions while maintaining crop quality and yields, according to PepsiCo.
Read More: Foods Produced Through Regenerative Agriculture Are Healthier, Consumers Say
This partnership will also scale up sustainable nutrient management practices across the PepsiCo farmer groups, the company noted.
It will include full-season crop and soil data capture and monitoring using PepsiCo’s CropTrak and ML Analytics tool.
It will be complemented by Yara's digital solutions offering, including digital satellite imagery via the AtFarm platform and the MegaLab soil analysis.
