CF Industries is a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for clean energy, emissions abatement, fertilizer, and other industrial applications. We operate manufacturing complexes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, which are among the most cost-advantaged, efficient, and flexible in the world and an unparalleled storage, transportation and distribution network in North America. Our employees focus on safe and reliable operations, environmental stewardship and disciplined capital and corporate management, driving our strategy to leverage and sustainably grow the world’s most advantaged hydrogen and nitrogen platform to serve customers, creating long-term shareholder value.

Company Overview

CF Industries manufactures hydrogen and nitrogen products at nine worldscale manufacturing complexes starting with the production of ammonia, which is three-parts hydrogen and one-part nitrogen. The company produces approximately 10 million tons of ammonia annually. Today, the ammonia produced is sold for its nitrogen content as fertilizer or for industrial use, or upgraded to other nitrogen products such as granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, diesel exhaust fluid and other products. In October 2020, the company announced its commitment to the clean energy economy as part of a long-term growth strategy to focus on the clean fuel value of hydrogen in ammonia rather than its nutrient (i.e., nitrogen) value.

Commitment to a Clean Energy Economy

CF Industries is taking significant steps to support a global hydrogen and clean fuel economy, which is expected to grow significantly over the next decade, through the production of green and low-carbon ammonia. These include:

  • Board-authorized green ammonia project to be built at the Donaldsonville Nitrogen Complex
  • Carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration and other carbon abatement projects to enable low-carbon ammonia production in development
  • Comprehensive ESG goals, covering critical environmental, societal, and workforce imperatives, including a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions across its global network
  • 25% reduction in CO2e emissions intensity by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050
  • Executive compensation tied directly to ESG goals

Green hydrogen and ammonia are expected to be critical contributors to the world achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Industry experts project hydrogen will meet approximately 20% of the world's energy need by 2050, up from less than 1% today. Ammonia, which is composed of three-parts hydrogen and one-part nitrogen, is a highly efficient transport and storage mechanism for hydrogen as well as a fuel in its own right.

As the world's largest ammonia producer, CF Industries' current asset base and technical expertise are well-situated to meet the anticipated demand for hydrogen and ammonia from green and low-carbon sources. The company's approach will focus on green ammonia production, which refers to ammonia produced through a carbon-free process, and low-carbon ammonia, which relates to ammonia produced by conventional processes but with CO2 removed through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and other certified carbon abatement projects.

Supplying an Essential Nutrient to Feed the World

Since its founding, CF Industries has supplied its customers with nitrogen, primarily for agricultural use. CF Industries produces approximately 10 million tons of ammonia each year that is either sold as fertilizer or for industrial use, or upgraded to other nitrogen products such as granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, and diesel exhaust fluid among others.

Crops need nitrogen-rich soils to grow. And people and livestock around the world depend on crops for food. Simply put, feeding the world is impossible without nitrogen.

Fertilizer use increases crop yields per acre, meaning more food can be grown on less land. That, in turn, reduces the need to convert carbon-sequestering forestland into farmland. Increasing crop yields thereby works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by limiting deforestation.

If farmers used no fertilizer, approximately 30 percent more farmland would be needed to grow food. The resulting deforestation would cause an increase of nearly five gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

CF's nitrogen based products benefit more than just farmers. Our products also help reduce emissions from power plants and combustion engines in diesel trucks.

Company Background

CF Industries was founded in 1946 as Central Farmers Fertilizer Company, and became CF Industries in 1970. The company was owned by a group of regional agriculture cooperatives for the first 59 years of its existence. CF Industries completed its initial public offering of common stock in August 2005, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.