Carbon foot print of Fertilizer imports to the East African Bloc and Policy recommendations for Decarbonization

Background Almost all Nitrogenous (N) fertilizers are fixed on an enormous scale with the “Haber-Bosch (H-B) ammonia synthesis process” via a reaction of Nitrogen with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. This process produces 130 million tons of ammonia per year, sustaining 40% of the today’s global population. The process consumes approximately 1-2% of the world’s total energy, and emits 830 Megatons of CO2 to the atmosphere annually. Large GHG emissions are discharged in Freight transportation of these fertilizers all over the globe. The global transport sector emits 7.5 Gigatons of CO2 but the fraction of emissions from Freight transportation of Nitrogenous (N) fertilizers from countries of origin to the East African (EA) Bloc is not yet known.
Objectives This study investigated the amounts of N fertilizers imported by the EA Bloc on an annual basis and examined the Carbon foot print from freight transportation of these fertilizers. The findings are useful in the regions’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as per the Paris Agreement of December 2015 regarding downsizing emissions from the transport sector.
Materials and Methods The study area included five East African Community (EAC) countries namely, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Statistics of fertilizers coming to EAC, was obtained from Africa.Fertilizer.org. The carbon footprint calculator (CFC) for fertilizer production (www.fertilizerseurope.com) certified by the Carbon Trust Standard was used. The CFC is calculated in a stepwise process of production known as cradle-to-factory-gate while computing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions including transportation.