More than 70% of planned green hydrogen usage in heavy industry around the world will incorporate the use of ammonia, according to a new report.

Production

CORRECTION | More than 70% of planned green hydrogen use in heavy industry will be used to produce ammonia: report

Announced clean ammonia projects in industry would produce about 274 million tonnes a year, exceeding annual global grey ammonia manufacturing capacity, says new study

Farm trailers in Illinois containing pure ammonia ('anhydrous' means 'without water') to be used directly as a fertiliser.

Leigh Collins

Editor, Hydrogen Insight

Published 19 June 2025, 13:17

CORRECTION: This article was originally headlined: “More than 70% of planned green hydrogen production globally will be used to produce ammonia: report”, but Hydrogen Insight has since learned that the Mission Possible Partnership report was actually referring to 70% of the planned green hydrogen being used in clean industry projects tracked by the organisation, rather than global production.

The line in the original Mission Possible Partnership report that stated: "Clean ammonia production accounting for over 70% of planned green hydrogen use" was a mistake that has since been amended, the organisation has told Hydrogen Insight. It now reads: "Clean ammonia production, accounting for over 70% of planned green hydrogen use in the Tracker”, which follows only clean industrial projects.

More than 70% of planned green hydrogen usage in heavy industry around the world will incorporate the use of ammonia, according to a new report.

By 30 April this year, there were 372 clean ammonia projects announced around the world, says the study written by Washington DC-based non-profit organisations Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) and the Industrial Transition Accelerator.

Two thirds of these projects would produce ammonia from green hydrogen (produced from renewables-powered electrolysis), with the remaining third using blue H2 (derived from natural gas with carbon capture and storage).

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If all these planned projects were built, they would produce about 274 million tonnes of clean ammonia per year, 77% of which would be green and 23% blue.

“Capacity in the pipeline exceeds the current grey ammonia production capacity,” says the report, entitled Clean industry: transformational trends, which also covers the decarbonisation of the chemicals, aviation, aluminium, cement and steel sectors.

However, the study also points out that less than 5% of the planned global clean ammonia capacity — about 16 million tonnes a year — has reached a final investment decision (FID), while less than 10% have offtake agreements lined up.

“Most new projects are concentrated in China, the US and the Middle East, with Chinese green ammonia projects expected to start production as early as 2025/2026,” it states.

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“Clean ammonia production, accounting for over 70% of planned green hydrogen use in the Tracker* [ie, in MPP's side-project tracking clean industrial projects], is increasingly shifting to sunbelt EMDEs [emerging markets and developing economies], now home to half of all clean ammonia pipeline capacity globally.

“Four sunbelt EMDEs — India, Egypt, Chile and Brazil — hold one-quarter of pipeline capacity.”

The US and MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) account for 80% of planned blue ammonia capacity thanks to an abundance of low-cost natural gas and access to CO2 storage sites, the report adds.

“Major policy drivers include the US IRAʼs [Inflation Reduction Act] 45Q tax credits, which incentivise blue hydrogen and ammonia projects through CO2 capture subsidies, and Europeʼs RED III [Renewable Energy Directive] mandate, which requires 42% renewably sourced hydrogen,” it explains. “The EUʼs CBAM [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] could further drive demand for low-emission ammonia by penalising non-compliance with EU carbon standards upon the launch of its definitive phase in 2026.

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“However, the pace of project realisation could be constrained by high capital costs, offtake and limited renewable energy capacity in some regions.”

The study says that Europe and China are emerging as the global demand centres for clean ammonia, “with dominant uses in fertiliser and industrial applications”.

And it adds that methanol, rather than ammonia, will be the dominant fuel in the clean shipping industry — pointing to the roughly 340 methanol-capable ships on order, compared to only 30 vessels on order that will be able to run on ammonia.

“While ammonia holds long-term zero-carbon potential, methanolʼs readiness and safety make it the dominant alternative fuel [in shipping] through the 2030s,” the report says. “The technology is more mature as it benefits from commercially available engines and simpler retrofits, with the vast majority of methanol-capable ships being dual-fuel (methanol and conventional fossil fuels).

“In contrast, ammonia as a shipping fuel and ammonia dual-fuel vessels are less mature. The handling required for ammonia is more complex as well, as it faces multiple safety, bunkering, and infrastructure challenges.”

Nevertheless, in the short term, there will be greater demand for ammonia from the maritime sector, which the study estimates will be about 20 million tonnes per year in 2030, compared to 10 million tonnes of methanol.

The Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) consists of four core partners: the Energy Transitions Commission, RMI [formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute], the We Mean Business Coalition and the World Economic Forum.

The Industrial Transition Accelerator is a “global multistakeholder collaboration”, with a secretariat hosted by MPP, whose co-chairmen are COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, Bloomberg founder and billionaire Michael Bloomberg and UN climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell.

* The words in italics here did not appear in the original version of the report, with the sentence being subsequently amended by MPP after the original publicaiton of this article.