UN SDGs at the core of our business

Yara believes the private sector has a great responsibility to help deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The adoption of the SDGs in 2015 coincided with Yara’s first materiality assessment. We had already oriented our strategy towards creating shared value, and the SDGs were a natural benchmark for identifying societal impact. Since then, sustainability has been embedded and integrated into Yara’s strategy.

We firmly believe that our knowledge and purpose give us a competitive advantage in a market that values sustainable development. Our SDG impact assessment mirrors our 2022 materiality update. While we see all 17 SDGs as relevant to Yara, we have highlighted below the ones where we believe we have the greatest potential to enhance positive andmitigate negative impacts on society.

Sustainable development goal Highlights in 2022 Metrics Supporting workstream Linked to material topics

Relevance to Yara: We envision a world without hunger. This can be supported by sustainable intensification of agriculture, as well as the development of fairer and more resilient food systems.

  • Yara’s products helped grow enough nutritious food to feed 200 million people
  • Yara committed USD 26 million to support farmers through the fertilizer crisis in Africa
  • Yara launched the Sustain Africa coalition together with Rabobank to provide additional support during the fertilizer crisis.
  • Giving local staff’s security the highest priority, Yara was able to sustain deliveries of fertilizers to Ukraine
  • Yara offered the digital solution Atfarm for free to European farmers, helping to optimize fertilizer use and crop yields during the fertilizer crisis
  • Yara provided support to UN Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance to recommend appropriate measures to tackle the global crisis
  • Active hectares under digital management
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Finished fertilizer production
  • Action Africa
  • Farm to Market Alliance
  • Helping communities in Brazil
  • Precision farming tools
  • Socioeconomic impacts on communities
  • Digitalization
  • Profitability

Relevance to Yara:  Almost half of all farmers globally are women, many of whom face gender-specific obstacles to access to land and resources. The chemical industry has
traditionally been dominated by men.

  • The book "The Courage to Be" was published in 2022, telling the stories of a selection of 169 participants in Yara’s Women in Agronomy program
  • Programs continued at several Yara plants to recruit and retain more women in maintenance, as the field of maintenance is traditionally male-dominated.
  • We expanded our gender pay equality analysis, in support of achieving gender equality. The 2022 analysis covered 25 countries and around 8000 employees.
  • The Yara Champion Program – Coffee continued, with a specific focus on strengthening women farmers' capabilities.
  • Female senior managers
  • D&I index
  • Gender balance
  • Gender pay gap
  • Parental leave
  • Women in Agronomy
  • Women in Maintenance
  • Gender pay-gap analysis
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program
  • Work-Life Balance and Well-being Framework
  • Living Wage project
  • Global standard on parental leave
  • People, Culture, and Leadership
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Health and Well-being at Work
  • Socioeconomic Impacts on Communities

Relevance to Yara: Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater use worldwide (FAO, 2017). Greater food demand, driven by a rising world population, will put further strain on water resources. Yara also has impact on water resources around production sites.

  • Sustainable water management is a priority in Yara’s Climate and Nature roadmap, and we are actively working to reduce water usage through targeted initiatives.
  • Together with The Weather Company, Yara continued to improve the Farm Water Advisor app, which empowers farmers to reach higher water efficiencies.
  • Yara’s fertigation solutions enable targeted distribution of fertilizer with fewer emissions and less loss of nutrients. In 2022, we sold well in excess of one million tonnes of water-soluble fertilizers.
  • Active hectares
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Water withdrawal, discharges and consumption
  • Water withdrawal in water-stressed areas
  • Environmental compliance
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Farm Water Advisor
  • Farm Weather App
  • Fertilizers and biostimulants for increased water uptake
  • Precision farming technology
  • Crop nutrition technology
  • Sustainable Farm Management and Regenerative Agriculture
  • Air, Water, and Waste
  • Protection of Ecosystems

Relevance to Yara: Yara is part of an energy-intensive industry, taking steps to decarbonize energy consumption and increase energy efficiency. Yara is dependent on partnerships and incentives schemes to make this happen. 

  • Yara Clean Ammonia worked actively to expand its already sizable portfolio of clean ammonia projects and established a landmark partnership on carbon capture, transport, and storage with Northern Lights at Yara Sluiskil.
  • Certified low-carbon energy made up 14% of Yara’s energy use in 2022. Our transition to clean energy depends on the availability and affordability of renewable energy as well as grid capacity.
  • Through the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Yara has committed to the Clean Hydrogen Pledge to drive growth in the demand for, and supply of, decarbonized hydrogen.
  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Renewable energy use
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Yara Clean Ammonia unit
  • Clean Hydrogen Pledge
  • First Movers Coalition
  • Opportunities in Clean Tech
  • Energy
  • Climate Change
  • Regulatory Changes and Compliance
  • Profitability

Relevance to Yara: Yara operates in 60 countries around the world and works to be an attractive employer that ensures decent work, fair pay, and benefits in all of these. Yara also has an important role to play in ensuring that agriculture provides sufficient financial reward for farmers and rural communities.

  • Yara’s Living Wage project completed pilots in 11 countries in 2022, ultimately aiming to establish standards for all 60 markets in which we operate.
  • We improved and aligned our policies, procedures, and ways of working with the new ISO 45003:2021 guideline for psychosocial health and safety at work.
  • Through the Grow Ghana Initiative, we distributed a total of 9,200 tonnes of free fertilizers to 51,000 farmers in 2022, aiming to deliver lasting impacts for farmers and on food security.
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Injury rate
  • Engagement index
  • D&I index
  • Job appraisals
  • Employee training
  • Female senior managers
  • Gender balance
  • Ethics training
  • Notifications of misconduct
  • Supplier social assessments
  • Grievances reported
  • Employees covered by collective bargaining agreements
  • Work-Life Balance and Well-being Framework
  • Safe by Choice
  • Annual Health & Safety Day
  • Action Africa
  • Farm to Market Alliance
  • Living Wage project
  • Human Rights Impact Assessments
  • Agoro Carbon Alliance
  • Varda
  • Occupational and Process Safety
  • Health and Wellbeing at Work
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Human Rights and Labor Practices
  • People, Culture, and Leadership
  • Sustainable Supply Chains
  • Sustainable Farm Management and Regenerative Agriculture
  • Socioeconomic Impacts on Communities
  • Business Integrity

Relevance to Yara: Yara is part of a resource and energy-intensive sector where upgrading of infrastructure and retrofitting of industries are key. Enhancing scientific research and upgrading technological capabilities are important strategies in this context. Yara also has a part to play in ensuring access to services for farmers.

  • In 2022, Yara Clean Ammonia signed its first contracts to establish a carbon-free ammonia fuel bunker network in Scandinavia. The bunker terminals will be designed and constructed by Azane Fuel Solutions.
  • With the GreenH2Chem project, Yara aims to develop technology for the combined production of hydrogen and nitrogen oxides to bring us closer to climate neutrality in 2050. In 2022, the project was granted support from the Norwegian Research Council.
  • Yara Growth Ventures invested in several actors facilitating access to financial services for farmers, notably credits to buy inputs such as seeds and fertilizers. This included Agrolend in Brazil and Jai Kisan in India.
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Revenues from online sales
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Ammonia production
  • Investments
  • R&D spending
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Yara Clean Ammonia
  • First Movers Coalition
  • Yara Growth Ventures
  • Circular products
  • People, Culture, and Leadership
  • Profitability
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Opportunities in Clean Tech
  • Energy

Relevance to Yara: A diverse and inclusive work environment in which employees feel valued for their unique contributions and feel safe to speak up benefits our business and innovation and supports social and economic equality. Sustaining income and livelihoods for farmers is also a key impact.

  • We launched Yara’s first Black Leaders Development Program, a program designed to meet the leadership development needs of emerging Black leaders. Eighty participants were chosen for the program.
  • Yara’s Leadership Academies were launched in India and Kenya to develop the skills and leadership capacities of micro, small, and medium enterprise owners in our supply chain, with priority given to youth and women.
  • Throughout 2022, Yara engaged actively in the European policy debate on food and fertilizer availability, stressing the need to reduce dependency on Russia for food and energy.
  • D&I index
  • Female senior managers
  • Value generation and distribution
  • Country-by-country tax report
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program
  • Global Diversity and Inclusion Day
  • Yara Pride
  • Women in Agronomy
  • Black Leaders Development Program
  • Yara Leadership Academy
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • People, Culture, and Leadership
  • Socioeconomic Impacts on Communities
  • Human Rights and Labor Practice

Relevance to Yara: We have more mouths to feed, limited land to farm, and fewer resources to draw upon, which makes it critical to develop more sustainable consumption and production pattern

  • We launched our new Sustainable Procurement Policy to drive sustainability in our supply chain.
  • Yara joined Together for Sustainability, a member-driven initiative for chemical companies, and will establish a reduction target for upstream scope 3 emissions.
  • We continued to engage and partner in projects addressing resource use and nutrient use efficiency, among them the European NutriBudget project to optimize nutrient flows, and the German AMPHORE project on nutrient recovery and reuse
  • In 2022, we introduced bags made of at least 30 percent recycled plastic in Europe and worked in similar projects in Brazil, Thailand, India, and West Africa.
  • GHG emissions and intensity
  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Water withdrawal and consumption
  • Waste handling
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Product stewardship certification
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Precision farming tools
  • Organic fertilizers
  • Circular products
  • Sustainable Procurement Strategy
  • Air, Water, and Waste
  • Product Safety
  • Profitability
  • Regulatory Changes and Compliance
  • Opportunities in Clean Tech
  • Sustainable Supply Chains
  • Business Integrity

Relevance to Yara: Climate change is the paramount global challenge we are facing and a serious threat to agricultural productivity in many parts of the world. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the key action to minimize the consequences, while adaptation and risk assessments are also needed to secure assets and food production. Our solutions play an important role in mitigating emissions and improving crop resilience to climate stress.

  • We continued to develop our Climate and Nature roadmap to put our ambition of Growing a Nature-Positive Food Future into action.
  • In 2022, we also submitted targets to the Science Based Targets initiative for our scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for 2030. We have a portfolio of decarbonization projects to reduce our own emissions and conduct research and engage with farmers and food companies to abate emissions from the use of our products.
  • In 2022, Yara signed the first commercial agreements for deliveries of fossil-free fertilizers with cooperatives and farmers in Northern Europe, Argentina, and Brazil.
  • The Agoro Carbon Alliance, initiated by Yara, continued to empower farmers to sequester carbon in their soils with carbon credit incentives, agronomic expertise, and technology and has paid out more than USD 12 million in revenue to farmers since its launch in 2021.
  • In 2021 and 2022, Yara analyzed risks and opportunities under different climate scenarios, taking both physical risks related to assets and farming, and transition risks into account.
  • GHG emissions and intensity
  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Active hectares
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Agoro Carbon Alliance
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Yara Climate Scenarios
  • Science-based targets
  • Climate Change
  • Opportunities in Clean Tech
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Regulatory Changes and Compliance
  • Sustainable Farm Management and Regenerative Agriculture
  • Energy
  • Digitalization
  • Profitability
  • Socioeconomic Impacts on Communities

Relevance to Yara: Use of fertilizer – of both mineral and organic origin – comes with a risk of runoff, leaching, or volatilization, which can cause eutrophication of waterways, or even dead zones in lakes or coastal waters. Yara-operated production sites also impact waterways in their vicinity.

Relevance to Yara: Industrial processes, extraction of their input factors, and application of Yara’s end products – fertilizers as well as industrial products – impact on terrestrial ecosystems.

  • Yara participated at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal where we joined the #MakeItMandatory campaign, calling for mandatory assessments and disclosures on nature.
  • Yara engaged with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Science-Based Targets Network to better assess our impacts and dependencies on nature and to develop related targets and disclosures for our Climate and Nature roadmap.
  • We continued to develop and add features to our precision agriculture tools, such as Atfarm and YaraFX Insight, to increase nutrient use efficiency, and prevent run-offs and leakage. Atfarm was introduced in six new countries in 2022, including the US.
  • Throughout 2022, we engaged with One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) and collaborated with other actors to define the concept of regenerative agriculture and promote related practices in the food value chain. Nutrient use efficiency is a cornerstone of regenerative agriculture, making it a strategic priority for Yara.
  • Water withdrawal, discharges and consumption
  • Water withdrawal in water-stressed areas (for SDG15)
  • Environmental compliance
  • Biodiversity impacts
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Active hectares
  • Climate and Nature roadmap
  • Atfarm
  • Precision farming tools
  • #MakeItMandatory
  • OP2B membership
  • Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
  • Science-Based Targets Network
  • Air, Water, and Waste
  • Protection of Ecosystems
  • Opportunities in Clean Tech
  • Sustainable Farm Management and Regenerative Agriculture

Relevance to Yara: We are aware of our contributions – and limitations. We cannot solve global challenges in isolation and strongly advocate more cross-sectoral and innovative partnerships.

  • For Yara’s contributions to goal 17, please refer to the Strategic engagement section and the Partnerships section in our 2022 Sustainability Report.

 

 

 

Core SDGs

 

Relevance to Yara

We envision a world without hunger. This can be supported by sustainable intensification of agriculture, as well as the development of fairer and more resilient food systems.


Metrics

  • Digitized hectares
  • Finished fertilizer production

Initiatives

  • Action Africa
  • Farm to Market Alliance
  • Helping communities in Brazil
  • Precision farming tools

 

SDG 2 Icon Zero Hunger

Relevance to Yara

We envision a world without hunger. This can be supported by sustainable intensification of agriculture, as well as the development of fairer and more resilient food systems.

Metrics

  • Digitized hectares
  • Finished fertilizer production

Initiatives

  • Action Africa
  • Farm to Market Alliance
  • Helping communities in Brazil
  • Precision farming tools

 

Relevance to Yara

Almost half of all farmers globally are women, many of whom face gender-specific obstacles to access to land and resources. The chemical industry has
traditionally been dominated by men.


Metrics

  • Female senior managers
  • D&I index
  • Gender balance
  • Gender pay gap
  • Parental leave

 

Relevance to Yara

Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater use worldwide (FAO, 2017). Greater food demand, driven by a rising world population, will put further strain on water resources. Yara also has impact on water resources around production sites.


Metrics

  • Digitized hectares
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Water withdrawal, discharges and consumption
  • Water withdrawal in water-stressed areas
  • Environmental compliance

 

Relevance to Yara

Yara is part of an energy-intensive industry, taking steps to decarbonize energy consumption and increase energy efficiency. Yara is dependent on partnerships and incentives schemes to make this happen. 


Metrics

  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Renewable energy use

 

Relevance to Yara

Yara operates in 60 countries around the world and works to be an attractive employer that ensures decent work, fair pay, and benefits in all of these. Yara also has an important role to play in ensuring that agriculture provides sufficient financial reward for farmers and rural communities.


Metrics

  • Revenues from new business models
  • Injury rate
  • Engagement index
  • D&I index
  • Job appraisals
  • Employee training
  • Female senior managers
  • Gender balance
  • Ethics training
  • Notifications of misconduct
  • Supplier social assessments
  • Grievances reported
  • Employees covered by collective bargaining agreements

 

Relevance to Yara

Yara is part of a resource and energy-intensive sector where upgrading of infrastructure and retrofitting of industries are key. Enhancing scientific research and upgrading technological capabilities are important strategies in this context. Yara also has a part to play in ensuring access to services for farmers.


Metrics

  • Revenues from new business models
  • Revenues from online sales
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Ammonia production
  • Investments
  • R&D spending

 

Relevance to Yara

A diverse and inclusive work environment in which employees feel valued for their unique contributions and feel safe to speak up benefits our business and innovation and supports social and economic equality. Sustaining income and livelihoods for farmers is also a key impact.


Metrics

  • D&I index
  • Female senior managers
  • Value generation and distribution
  • Country-by-country tax report

 

Relevance to Yara

We have more mouths to feed, limited land to farm, and fewer resources to draw upon, which makes it critical to develop more sustainable consumption and production pattern.


Metrics

  • GHG emissions and intensity
  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Water withdrawal and consumption
  • Waste handling
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Product stewardship certification

 

Relevance to Yara

Climate change is the paramount global challenge we are facing and a serious threat to agricultural productivity in many parts of the world. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the key action to minimize the consequences, while adaptation and risk assessments are also needed to secure assets and food production. Our solutions play an important role in mitigating emissions and improving crop resilience to climate stress.


Metrics

  • GHG emissions and intensity
  • Energy consumption and intensity
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Active hectares
  • Carbon marketplace
  • Revenues from new business models

 

Relevance to Yara

Use of fertilizer – of both mineral and organic origin – comes with a risk of runoff, leaching, or volatilization, which can cause eutrophication of waterways, or even dead zones in lakes or coastal waters. Yara-operated production sites also impact waterways in their vicinity.


Metrics

  • Water withdrawal, discharges and consumption
  • Water withdrawal in water-stressed areas (for SDG15)
  • Environmental compliance
  • Biodiversity impacts
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Digitized hectares

 

Relevance to Yara

Industrial processes, extraction of their input factors, and application of Yara’s end products – fertilizers as well as industrial products – impact on terrestrial ecosystems.


Metrics

  • Water withdrawal, discharges and consumption
  • Water withdrawal in water-stressed areas (for SDG15)
  • Environmental compliance
  • Biodiversity impacts
  • Supplier sustainability rating and performance
  • Revenues from new business models
  • Digitized hectares