No easy fix to fertiliser non-greenness

Significance Fertiliser use will grow, driven by population growth in developing economies. Emissions from fertiliser use will also grow, as decarbonisation options are high-cost and difficult to scale and regulate. Nitrogen-based fertilisers pose environmental problems beyond their carbon emissions. Impacts Russia will up output of nitrogen-based fertilisers as a means of exporting its gas surplus created by the loss of its European gas sales. Population growth will maintain demand for increased fertiliser production over the medium and longer term. The build-up of reactive nitrogen in the environment will increasingly affect biodiversity and water quality.