Background: Brazil is the second-largest grain exporter in the world contributing to food security. Brazil’s National Plan for Fertilizers (PNF) aims to reduce Brazil’s fertilizer imports from 87% to 50% by 2050. According to the National Council for Fertilizers and Plant Nutrition (Confert), a body chaired by MDIC, the emerging fertiliser chains, which includes CNOMF, have a small share in the country’s consumption but great potential for growth, projecting a 500% increase by 2050 via investments. ACTION is aligned with the PNF. The project, ACTION, directly targets two sectors: 1) chemicals: CNOMF production and its value chain, supporting Brazil’s target of 50% in-country production; 2) agriculture: introduces climate-adapted products and practices, reducing carbon footprints and boosting productivity while lowering import dependence.
Approach to Transformational Change: The project aims at revolutionizing agriculture by introducing sustainable farming practices through the production of Carbon-Negative Organo-Mineral Fertilizers (CNMF). The novel fertiliser incorporates point source carbon dioxide captured into organic matter balanced with mineral fertiliser.
The project, ACTION, will offer a viable solution to decarbonise the fertilizer industry and develop a local value chain. It will promote sustainable waste management and would establish financial mechanisms to scale up both industries.
ACTION will provide access to funding (via the financial cooperation [FC] component) and advisory support (via the technical cooperation [TC] component). The FC component will establish a grant and a loan revolving fund to provide loans to farmer cooperatives for adopting the novel technology on reduced interest rates. The technical assistance component aims to improve capacities throughout the local chain to the main actors (financial institutions, farmers, and policy makers). Cooperatives will receive professional training in sustainable farming, addressing gender equality & social inclusion. In addition, through policy advice, regulations will be improved, allowing the transformation of the sector.
Mitigation potential: The project will directly mitigate 1.4 Mt CO2e during the lifetime of its intervention with the cost efficiency of 18 EUR/tCO2e. It will reduce another 31.4 MtCO2e indirectly 10 years after project end.