Russia’s war against Ukraine has exacerbated the global energy and climate crises. Natural gas prices are record high, affecting certain commodities. Food prices in particular have skyrocketed on the heels of lower crop exports from Ukraine and Russia and higher prices for nitrogen-based fertilisers (due to the natural gas inputs required to manufacture ammonia) as well as global crop losses due to drought made worse by the climate crisis.
Green ammonia could play an important role in mitigating the global energy and climate crises by reducing reliance on fossil fuels to manufacture fertilisers. A lower demand for natural gas as an industrial feedstock for fertiliser production would for its part, to a certain extent, mitigate food price volatility. Thanks to promising conditions for green ammonia production, Argentina has a unique
opportunity to become a key player in the global production of green fertilisers.
This paper proposes potential strategies that Argentina could adopt to harness its energy resources and develop a sustainable domestic fertiliser industry. With international support, Argentina could tap the potential offered by renewable hydrogen to position itself as one of the global hubs for green ammonia and other hydrogen-based products. This shift would not only generate significant socioeconomic benefits in Argentina but would also contribute to the transition to climate neutrality globally.