Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor David ManningORCiD, Thiago Siqueira, Dr Mohammad RajaeifarORCiD, Professor Oliver HeidrichORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2025 The Authors. Brazil is the world's 5th largest agricultural producer, with a vital role in global food supplies. It is the world's largest importer of potassium fertilizers. Evaluation of the carbon footprint of food production needs to include the carbon footprint of fertilizer inputs. We report, for the first time, Scope 3 emissions relating to global and local transport and distribution networks for KCl fertilizer delivered to Brazil. The average carbon footprint from 8 global manufacturers in 7 countries to 5,563 distribution hubs is 530.5 kg of CO2-eq per tonne of KCl. This is almost double the emissions value widely used for KCl for Brazilian agriculture (273.13 kg CO2-eq t-1). We emphasise the need for a universal mandate to ensure that all stakeholders in the supply chain comprehensively account for Scope 3 emissions relating to KCl transport from where it is produced to where it is used. The revision of the carbon footprint for K fertilizer has major implications for global producers, local distributors, supermarkets, and consumers.
Author(s): Manning DAC, Siqueira TR, Rajaeifar MA, Heidrich O
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Resources, Conservation and Recycling
Year: 2026
Volume: 226
Print publication date: 01/02/2026
Online publication date: 21/11/2025
Acceptance date: 12/11/2025
Date deposited: 03/12/2025
ISSN (print): 0921-3449
ISSN (electronic): 1879-0658
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108694
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108694
Data Access Statement: The data is available in the supporting information as a Microsoft Excel file.
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
