Page 169 - CW E-Magazine (27-5-2025)

Special Report

is not yet very techno-commercially aligned their targets with the timeline ing plants across fi ve Indian states –
viable. agreed upon in the Paris Agreement, i.e., Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal,
2050. As key decarbonization techno- Jammu, and Karnataka – focusing pri-
While renewable energy (RE) has logies such as green ammonia and green marily on crop protection chemicals
a high level of technological and com- hydrogen develop and mature in the and fertilizers. The company has 26
mercial maturity, its impact on reducing coming years, it is likely that more agro- manufacturing facilities internationally
emissions is limited – particularly until chemical manufacturers will announce in 14 countries, including the US,
the markets for green H and electroly- their net-zero targets in near future. Brazil, China, South Africa, and the
2
sers develop. The current manufac- UK. This global network allows UPL
turing processes in the agrochemical Company initiatives to meet the demands of domestic and
sector depend heavily on fossil fuels BASF India, a subsidiary of the international markets effi ciently.
and are largely not electrifi ed. German chemical company, has the
highest RE utilization, with approxi- In FY24, UPL India’s total energy
Carbon capture technologies can mately 37% of its energy consumption consumption was approximately nine
prevent CO emissions from intermedi- from renewable energy sources. BASF petajoules (PJ). RE sources accounted
2
ary chemical reactions, allowing this sources this RE primarily through power for a modest share of 7%, while non-
captured CO to be used in subsequent purchase agreements (PPAs) and by renewable energy sources contributed
2
chemical processes. For instance, in urea substituting traditional boiler fuel with the remaining 93%.
production, the excess CO generated biofuel briquettes.
2
during the SMR process can be captured The company sourced 89% of its
and later utilizsd in the reaction between In contrast, other fertilizer manufac- RE consumption from RE electricity
ammonia and CO to produce urea. turers such as Deepak Fertilizers, Coro- (generated via its 62-MW wind solar
2
However, the infrastructure for captur- mandel International, and Paradeep hybrid plant), while renewable fuels
ing, storing, and transporting emitted Phosphates have very low penetra- (biomass) accounted for the remaining
CO remains largely underdeveloped. tion of RE, with only 2.4%, 0.9%, and 11%. On the other hand, fuels predomi-
2
0.01%, respectively. nantly drive the company’s reliance on
To eff ectively support decarboniza- non-renewable energy consumptions,
tion measures, strong policy and regula-  BASF India, the Indian Farmers accounting for 89%, followed by
tory interventions are essential to create Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO), and electricity at 9%, and other sources
a favourable ecosystem. These inter- Deepak Fertilizers have announced contributing a minor 2%.
ventions should include carbon pricing, plans to integrate low-carbon and
taxes, emission-based tariff barriers green ammonia into their opera- In FY24, UPL India’s total green-
(such as the Carbon Border Adjustment tions, enhancing their decarboni- house gas (GHG) emissions amounted
Mechanism or CBAM), and direct zation eff orts. BASF has signed to 0.82-mt CO e. UPL’s energy inten-
2
incentives for green H production. an agreement to purchase 100,000 sity of 13.3 GJ/tonne of output is signi-
2
tonnes of green ammonia annually fi cantly lower than the global average
Many Indian agrochemical com- from AM Green, a company based of 36.9 GJ/tonne of output. Similarly,
panies have not yet set net-zero tar- in Hyderabad. the company’s emission intensity of
gets. The ones who have declared have  Deepak Fertilizers has signed a 1.22-tonne CO /tonne of output is lower
2
Memorandum of Understanding than the corresponding global average
Table 1: Net-zero targets by Indian (MoU) with the Russian company of 2.34-tonne CO /tonne of output.
agrochemical companies Novatek to supply low-carbon 2
Company Net-zero ammonia directly. UPL demonstrates its focus on
target year  IFFCO has also signed an MoU sustainability by participating in key
BASF India 2050 with ACME Cleantech Solutions global initiatives. These include the
Rallis India 2045 to buy and supply approximately Responsible Care programme, which
Sumitomo Chemicals 2050 200,000 tonnes of ammonia pro- advocates for safe and sustainable
duced using RE.
chemical management, and the Science
UPL Ltd. 2050 Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
Paradeep Phosphates 2050 Case study – UPL Ltd.
Source: JMK Research, company annual reports UPL Ltd. operates 15 manufactur- UPL allocated 5% of its capex (i.e.,

Chemical Weekly May 27, 2025 169

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