Agathe Bounfour

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Agathe Bounfour |Clare Carlile

The coastal city of Freeport, Texas is a dense tangle of metal pipes, tanks and towers. Located 60 miles south of Houston, it’s home to a sprawling petrochemical complex – one of the largest and most polluting in the US. Among its facilities is a plant dedicated to the production of ammonia, a colourless compound of nitrogen and hydrogen and a key ingredient in fertilisers widely used on industrial arable farms – including on fields of barley, wheat and maize across Europe.

1 month ago | desmog.com | Agathe Bounfour |Clare Carlile

In a fast-warming world the polluting fertiliser industry is under pressure to clean up its act. In response, the sector spins a green image with slick PR. Leading the charge is Yara, the biggest fertiliser producer in Europe, claiming the market can continue to grow, with the help of innovative ‘low-emission’ products. But Yara and the industry are not are green as they seem.