Belém, Brazil · 19 November 2025 — The United Kingdom and Brazil announced a global call to action on fertilisers at the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, launching the Belém Declaration on Fertilisers as a ministerial-level initiative to tackle the environmental impact of fertiliser production and use while embracing their economic opportunities for agriculture.
The declaration, published by the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) on 19 November 2025, urges countries and stakeholders to do more to enhance nutrient use efficiency and reduce emissions from fertiliser production as a key pathway to delivering climate goals, protecting and restoring nature, and ensuring food security for all in an equitable and just manner.
The Fertiliser-Climate Nexus
Fertilisers sit at the intersection of two of the most pressing global challenges: food security and climate change. Synthetic nitrogen fertilisers are essential to modern agriculture, supporting roughly half of the world's food production. Yet their production and use carry significant environmental costs. The production of ammonia — the key ingredient in nitrogen fertilisers — through the Haber-Bosch process is highly energy-intensive, relying primarily on natural gas, and accounts for approximately 1–2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
When applied to fields, nitrogen fertilisers release nitrous oxide (N₂O), a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its warming effect. Agriculture is the largest source of human-caused N₂O emissions globally. Additionally, excess nitrogen runoff contributes to water pollution, eutrophication of rivers and coastal waters, and biodiversity loss.
Four Pillars of Action
The Belém Declaration on Fertilisers draws on the 2025 Breakthrough Agenda report chapter on fertilisers, published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in collaboration with the Climate Champions Team. The report identified four key pillars for international collaboration:
| Pillar | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| Standards and certification | Developing common metrics for nutrient use efficiency and low-emission fertiliser production |
| Demand creation | Stimulating markets for enhanced-efficiency and low-carbon fertiliser products |
| Finance and investment | Mobilising capital for innovation in fertiliser production and application technologies |
| Research and innovation | Accelerating development of new fertiliser technologies, precision application methods, and biological alternatives |
Under the Global Climate Action Agenda at COP30, the UK also collaborated on a Plan to Accelerate Fertiliser Solutions to assess actions already underway, identify gaps, promote acceleration of those actions, and coordinate across organisational barriers to deliver change.
A Partnership Between Major Agricultural Powers
The Brazil-UK partnership on fertilisers builds on a broader bilateral agreement on fertiliser sustainability announced earlier in 2025. Brazil is one of the world's largest agricultural producers and a major consumer of fertilisers, importing roughly 80 percent of its fertiliser needs. The UK, while a smaller fertiliser consumer, has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable agriculture policy and climate finance.
The declaration was endorsed by Japan and various civil society organisations, with Canada and the Mission Possible Partnership added as endorsees on 24 November 2025. The growing list of supporters reflects an emerging consensus that fertiliser reform is both a climate necessity and an agricultural opportunity.
Complementary Initiatives at COP30
The Belém Declaration on Fertilisers was one of several agriculture-related announcements at COP30. On the same day, ministers launched the Farmers' Initiative for Resilient and Sustainable Transformations (FIRST), a South-South effort to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture. The FIRST initiative prioritised a "what's in it for farmers" model, aiming to link science, policy, and practical on-the-ground implementation to boost yields and soil health while lowering input costs.
Earlier in the conference, on 7 November 2025, 43 countries and the European Union signed the Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and Human-Centred Climate Action, which placed social justice, hunger, and poverty alleviation at the centre of climate efforts. That declaration emphasised the need for climate-responsive social protection systems and support for small-scale food producers, including Indigenous Peoples and pastoralists.
The Gap Between Voluntary Pledges and Binding Action
While these initiatives gained visibility at COP30, many observers noted a gap between the high-level voluntary declarations and the lack of substantive, binding progress in the main negotiation texts. The formal negotiations on agriculture under the Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on Agriculture and Food Security (SJWA) saw limited progress, with critics pointing to the absence of concrete commitments on industrial agriculture, commodity-driven deforestation, or a clear roadmap for food systems transformation.
The UK's Commitment
The UK government stated its commitment to working with partners to champion the critical role of sustainable agriculture and food systems. The declaration aligns with the UK's broader climate goals, including its commitment to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and its support for the Global Methane Pledge, which targets a 30 percent reduction in methane emissions by 2030.
The UK's engagement on fertilisers also reflects domestic policy priorities. British farmers face increasing regulatory pressure to reduce nutrient pollution, with new environmental schemes incentivising precision fertiliser application, cover cropping, and improved manure management. The lessons learned from these domestic programmes are intended to inform the international collaboration envisaged under the Belém Declaration.
Sources
- UK Government, Belém Declaration on Fertilisers, published 19 November 2025.
- World Resources Institute, Statement: Brazil and UK Announce Declaration to Improve Fertilizers, Food Security, Nature, and Climate.
- Climate and Clean Air Coalition, Ministers launch global South-South effort to cut methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture.
- IPES-Food, COP30: World leaders pledge to put hunger and poverty at the heart of climate action.
- IPES-Food, COP30 ends without action on food systems.
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