Our commitment to environmental stewardship is integral to CF Industries’ Do It Right culture. We strive to do more with less, improve the ecosystems from which we draw natural resources, and invest in proven and practical technologies to reduce our operational impact on the environment while helping other industries do the same thing.
Environmental Goals
CO2-equivalent emissions reduction per ton of product by 2030 (2015 baseline year)
of Scope 3 emissions will be reduced by 2030 from 2020 baseline
Achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
Develop integrated water resource management plans to ensure sustainable withdrawals and discharges
Our Decarbonization Strategy
CF Industries is committed to decarbonizing our operations and helping other industries do the same. We are leading the world’s development of low- and zero-carbon ammonia through our investments, partnerships, and capital expansion projects.
Reducing Our Operational Emissions
Core to our business operations is our longstanding investment in maximizing the efficiency of our production plants to support lower carbon emissions intensity (CO2 equivalent emissions per metric ton of ammonia produced).
CF Industries is also pursuing Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) projects that will accelerate progress towards our decarbonization goals. CCS is the process of capturing CO2 before it is emitted in order to safely and permanently sequester it in proven and secure storage areas deep underground, typically a mile below surface.
Additionally, we are constructing one of the largest electrolyzers in the world to enable North America’s first commercial scale green ammonia production (ammonia produced with hydrogen sourced through an electrolysis process that produces no carbon emissions). We also are currently developing a roadmap for N2O abatement projects within our network.
Industry Emissions Reduction Projects
Energy-intensive industries, such as power generation and marine shipping, that face concerns about their respective carbon footprints have identified ammonia as a clean energy source. This is due to the hydrogen atoms that make up a molecule of ammonia. Hydrogen is widely viewed as a scalable source of clean energy, and ammonia represents an efficient mechanism to both ship and store hydrogen, as well as a clean energy source in its own right as ammonia does not contain or emit carbon. CF Industries is evolving its production network to begin scalable production of blue and green ammonia to meet this growing demand and support the global energy transition.
As part of our efforts to aid in the decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries, we have developed several strategic partnerships, including the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Hydrogen Council. Our collaboration with industry partners is at the leading edge of ammonia fuel use and provides several viable pathways to decarbonization for some of the most energy-intensive industries.
Emerging Projects & Partnerships
In early 2023, we entered made the first known industrial purchase natural gas certified to have 90% lower methane intensity - a significant contributor to our Scope 3 emissions - than the industry average. The natural gas is certified using MiQ’s methane standard, which monitors, addresses, and grades the natural gas used in ammonia production.
CF Industries has partnered with Mitsui & Co., a global trading company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, to evaluate new low-carbon ammonia capacity that both companies believe will be needed to meet future demand.
In February 2021, CF Industries partnered with 10 other companies to form Hydrogen Forward, an initiative focused on advancing hydrogen development – including infrastructure and policy – in the U.S.
CF Industries has partnered with thyssenkrupp UHDE to initiate a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for a proposed joint venture to construct an export-oriented greenfield blue ammonia facility in Ascension Parish, Louisiana.
In 2022, we published a map of biodiversity risks and CF Industries facilities for the first time to increase transparency on this important issue.
Environmental Stewardship
As an environmental steward, CF Industries is intentional in our product design, capital developments, and operations to protect biodiversity. We are committed to maintaining – and in some cases exceeding – compliance with regulations that protect our environment, including air, water, and waste regulations. Our drive for continuous improvement has motivated our environmental stewardship through our sustainability goals and initiatives.
Case Study
Exxon CCS Partnership
CF Industries is constructing a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at its Donaldsonville facility to transport and store process CO2 it already captures but would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere. ExxonMobil will transport and permanently store the captured CO2 in secure geologic storage that it owns in Vermilion Parish. As part of the project, ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with EnLink Midstream to use EnLink’s transportation network to deliver CO2 to permanent geologic storage.
The 2 million metric tons of emissions captured annually will be equivalent to preventing the emissions of approximately 400,000 gasoline-powered cars each year.
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“We recognize there’s a need to adapt our business to meet the demands of our customers and to continue to provide for our communities. We’re doing that every day by making improvements to our operations, our company culture, and our ESG goals and targets. We recognize that if we want to be a leader in our industry, we must be a leader in sustainability as well.”
Kerry Labourdette
Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Analyst