Fertiliser companies dominate talks on climate change and agriculture, says GRAIN's new report

Fertilizer companies are among the world's top climate villains, a new report from GRAIN asserts. Their products could be responsible for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention the damage wreaked on waterways, soils and the ozone layer. But policies to transition agriculture out of its current dependence on chemical fertilizers are being undermined by the fertilizer industry's lobby efforts. GRAIN's report, “The Exxons of agriculture”, shows how fertilizer companies have infiltrated the main policy processes on agriculture and climate to position chemical fertilizers as a solution to climate change and to weaken support for non-chemical farming. Under the banner of “climate smart agriculture”, fertilizer companies work in alliance with other food and agribusiness corporations to lobby for voluntary, company-led programmes that promote the use of fertilizers, such as Wall-Mart's climate smart agriculture programme or the World Economic Forum's New Vision for Agriculture. Fertilizer companies even hold sway within the only intergovernmental initiative to so far have emerged on climate change and agriculture. The founding membership and steering committee of the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture, launched last year at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, are stacked with fertilizer companies, their front groups and organizations that partner with them.