SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, 30 November: Nutrien Ltd. today announced the launch of the agricultural industry’s most comprehensive carbon program, providing end-to-end support for growers to drive improved sustainability and boost profitability. As the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services to growers, Nutrien is uniquely positioned to create the only program at scale. It is ready to partner directly with growers to plan, plant and track sustainable farming practices and improve carbon performance.
As part of the new program, Nutrien will provide sustainable products and solutions, year-round dedicated agronomic counsel and the industry’s leading digital platform to track and measure results. Additionally, Nutrien will enable growers to monetize their improved carbon performance at the farm level by facilitating the purchase and sale of carbon credits from its grower customers to value-chain partners.
Working with select growers, Nutrien will design programs that facilitate climate-smart products and sustainable practices to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, sequester carbon, and measure the resulting improvements in financial, productivity and environmental performance. Nutrien will pilot the new carbon program across North America in 2021 and it plans to further scale the program to South America and Australia in the years ahead.
For more information on the carbon program, visit Nutrien’s website at www.nutrien.com/carbon-program.
Executive commentary
Chuck Magro, President and CEO, Nutrien, said, “Nutrien is working to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges: producing more food with less land, water and environmental impact. Our new carbon program will empower growers to produce, preserve and profit from sustainable practices. With our global reach, direct relationships with over 500,000 growers, the science-based expertise of our in-house agronomy team, and investments in industry-leading technology, Nutrien is uniquely positioned to create a carbon program with the scale and resources to bring meaningful and sustainable benefits to growers and the planet they are working hard to feed.”
“Over time, our vision is to expand the carbon program to include partnerships across the value chain and into other industries that have interest in the carbon economy. Addressing climate change is critically important and we believe the best way to move forward is to work together; we are open to the full range of partnership opportunities. Our aim is to create an ecosystem to help our grower customers benefit from sustainable practices and enable the purchase and sale of their carbon credits, while partnering with governments to help meet public environmental goals.”
“With this new program, we are helping to build an economy and market around sustainability that we believe is truly the next major transformation for the agriculture industry and addresses global issues that affect everyone,” added Magro.
Agricultural industry commentary
Jeff Topp, CEO of T-T Ranch near Carrington, North Dakota, said, “Sustainability can mean different things to different people, but to us it means leaving the land better than we found it. We are excited to partner with Nutrien to create a program that’s practical and can be implemented by other growers on a broad scale to deliver measurable benefit.”
Matt Coutts, Chief Investment Officer at Coutts Agro Ltd, a grain farm in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, said, “Coutts Agro is delighted to partner with Nutrien on their sustainability strategy and carbon objectives. We are focused on aligning sustainability, agronomy and profitability to move our company and industry forward. By directly addressing issues related to climate change, our industry has an opportunity to improve our carbon footprint and be rewarded accordingly, building off of performance demonstrated by leading edge companies who prioritize progressive ESG standards. We look forward to working with Nutrien to properly define agriculture’s role in the carbon economy with private market solutions.”
The market opportunity for carbon
Demand for carbon credits in the voluntary market has more than doubled since 2017, according to Ecosystem Marketplace’s State of Voluntary Carbon Markets report. Looking ahead, The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets notes that the global market for carbon offsets is expected to increase by 40 - 100X by 2050 as the world increasingly focuses on climate action. Agriculture is expected to be a leading participant in this growing market.
“Carbon has the potential to become a substantial economy that will go a long way towards realizing net zero agriculture. Our program is an important first step towards this journey. Our direct relationship with our grower customers will help them to be early movers in this space and see financial value from farming sustainably,” added Magro.
Nutrien’s Multi-Year Commitment to ESG Initiatives
Nutrien’s new carbon program is part of a broader sustainability offering designed to benefit growers, governments, and a cross-section of industries while helping the planet and supporting sustainable solution for feeding a growing global population. It is expected to lead to longer-term environmental, social and governance (ESG) returns for Nutrien and its partners.
Additional information on Nutrien’s current ESG initiatives is available here.
