- UK Ammonia Alliance (UKAA) is a new coalition of pioneering businesses that has launched to accelerate the growth of the UK’s ammonia industry. It aims to drive adoption of low-carbon ammonia across industry, energy, agriculture and transport to support the UK’s energy security, decarbonisation and economic growth.
- With its world-class research and innovation base, industrial expertise, and location as an import/export hub, the UK is well-positioned to lead the global transition to low-carbon ammonia.
- Ammonia is a gas vital for modern life, widely used in fertilisers and industrial applications. When produced with renewable energy or carbon capture and storage, low-carbon ammonia can provide a route to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors and accelerate the energy transition as an efficient hydrogen carrier, energy store, and sustainable fuel.
- UKAA is calling for supportive UK Government policy to ensure the UK captures the full economic, energy security and decarbonisation benefits of this growing market.
- The Alliance will hold its first public event in Parliament next month with MPs and Peers, where it will launch a policy paper setting out key steps to unlocking the UK’s ammonia opportunity.
A group of leading businesses from across the ammonia value chain have come together to form the UK Ammonia Alliance – a coalition working together to maximise the role of ammonia in delivering a more secure, sustainable future for the UK.
The Alliance will draw on their deep expertise and innovation across the ammonia, energy and hydrogen industries. The Founding Members of the UKAA are AFC Energy, Air Products, Blended Products, Clean Air Power, Exolum, Green Cat Hydrogen, HYCAP, Industrial Chemicals Limited, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, N-Gen Energy and Statkraft.
Essential for modern agriculture and industry, ammonia has long been used in fertilisers, refrigeration and manufacturing. Today, low-carbon ammonia offers a pathway to decarbonise these vital sectors while also being used in new applications including hydrogen transport and storage, power generation and sustainable fuels.
The UK Ammonia Alliance seeks to help industries adopt these solutions-at scale, to support the UK Government in unlocking the strategic role that low-carbon ammonia can play in delivering net zero, energy security and economic growth.
Dr Mike Rendall, CTO of AFC Energy and Chair of UKAA, said:
“Ammonia represents a major opportunity for the UK to accelerate the energy transition while driving industrial growth.
The work we are doing at AFC Energy shows that low carbon ammonia imports will play a vital role in making hydrogen accessible across the UK. By using our compact, decentralised ammonia crackers and ammonia-to-power systems, we plan to supply hydrogen and clean power at scale for industry and transport applications. Crucially, this can be delivered at a commercially viable price point, and without the need for government subsidies.
“As the Alliance’s first Chair, I’m looking forward to building a unified industry voice to help channel the UK’s innovation and expertise into good jobs, clean energy and food security for people across the UK.”
The launch of the UK Ammonia Alliance has been welcomed by multinational ammonia trade groups:
Trevor Brown, Executive Director of the Ammonia Energy Association said:
“The Ammonia Energy Association welcomes the establishment of the UK Ammonia Alliance. At the AEA, we are committed to accelerating the responsible adoption of clean ammonia by promoting cross-sectoral collaboration, knowledge sharing, global standards, and supportive policies. Critical to achieving this is strong international collaboration across industry, policymakers and investors.
“The UK has world-class R&D capabilities and industrial expertise, and it offers a strategic location as an import/export hub. For these reasons we look forward to sharing our global knowledge and expertise, and working together with the UKAA to support the growth of the clean ammonia market in the UK.”
Stephen Jackson, CEO of Ammonia Europe said:
“I welcome the launch of the UK Ammonia Alliance. It’s great to see this national initiative take shape, which will be a strong complement to Ammonia Europe’s work to decarbonise the European ammonia industry and drive uptake of clean ammonia.
“International collaboration is going to be key as governments, industry and investors work to deliver the energy transition. We look forward to working closely with the UKAA in pursuit of our shared vision for a secure, resilient and sustainable future.”
The Alliance believes that the UK has a strategic opportunity to capture a significant share of the growing global ammonia market. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), ammonia production is projected to rise by almost 40% by 2050*.
Ammonia has been widely and safely traded for decades, as the second most produced chemical commodity. This means there are established supply chains, transport vessels, handling procedures, distributors and storage terminals across the world.
The UKAA aims to work with industry and Government to support the policies, investment and infrastructure needed to scale low-carbon ammonia adoption. By building on the UK’s industrial strengths, the Alliance’s ambition is to unlock new opportunities for growth, innovation, and energy and food security — cementing the UK’s leadership in the global transition to a net zero economy.
As its first major public intervention, the UKAA will launch a policy paper in Parliament in November. This paper will set out the Alliance’s key recommendations for the UK to capture the significant economic and decarbonisation opportunities from low-carbon ammonia.
Matt Kelly, Vice President Hydrogen UK at Statkraft said:
“Green hydrogen and green ammonia will play a unique role in the energy transition, offering a low-carbon alternative for some of the most difficult sectors to electrify. Statkraft is focused on developing our ammonia projects in Great Britain and are pleased to be advancing this mission along with partners in the UKAA.”
Alex Robinson, Managing Director at Blended Products said:
“As the UK’s largest independent supplier of ammonia and supported products, Blended Products understands the importance of building a resilient domestic supply chain. Low-carbon ammonia presents a major opportunity to strengthen UK industry, create skilled jobs and improve energy security. The UK Ammonia Alliance gives us a strong platform to turn this potential into reality.”
Stephen Livermore, Development Manager at Green Cat Hydrogen said:
“The Green Cat Group has 20 years of experience in renewable energy development. Green Cat Hydrogen is a recent addition to the group, aimed at facilitating the energy transition including decarbonising industry and helping to reconcile challenges with the grid that have been hampering renewable development. We see ammonia as a key vector for decarbonisation and are pleased to join a coalition that is offering practical solutions to realise this potential.”
Edward Gill, NWE Public Affairs Lead at Exolum said:
“Exolum’s expertise in connecting global sustainable fuel markets can help provide the critical logistics infrastructure that’s needed to support ammonia’s role in the UK’s energy transition. We’re delighted to be joining with like-minded colleagues to form the UK Ammonia Alliance as part of that.”
Dr Dan Skelton, Managing Director at Clean Air Power said:
“We see ammonia as a vital clean fuel for the future, one capable of transforming sectors that are hard to electrify. Through our advanced injector technology, we and our partners see ammonia as a key enabler for the replacement of fossil fuels across flexible power generation, data centre resilience, distributed energy networks, industrial and marine applications. We’re proud to contribute our expertise to help the Alliance accelerate this transition to a zero-carbon energy future.”
Ben Madden, Chief Technology Officer at HYCAP said:
“With our focus on investing in the energy transition, HYCAP believes in the transformative potential of low-carbon ammonia. HYCAP is proud to support the Alliance in unlocking growth and deploying innovation across the sector.”
Gareth Mills, Managing Director at N-Gen Energy said:
“We recognise that ammonia can accelerate the deployment of clean hydrogen, boost our energy security and drive industry towards decarbonisation. By working as part of the Alliance, we can ensure the UK reaps the economic benefits of becoming a global frontrunner in ammonia adoption.”
John Wilson, CEO of AFC Energy said:
“We applaud the launch of the UK Ammonia Alliance and believe this represents a major step forward in building a cleaner, more resilient energy future. AFC’s ammonia cracking technology is on the front line of many exciting low carbon ammonia projects across the world, and we look forward to sharing our insights and expertise with Government and industry colleagues.”
Darren Sharpe, Energy Projects Manager at Industrial Chemicals Group said:
“This collaboration, bringing together industry experts, investors and innovators, is a really important step to realising ammonia’s full potential. As one of the UK’s largest chemical distributors, we see a huge opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in the growing global market for ammonia solutions.”
Kentaro Noguchi, Head of Strategy at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA said:
“Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is committed to developing decarbonisation technologies and supporting the development of value chains that enable the use of ammonia as a clean fuel, which holds the key to solutions in the energy transition. With our ammonia-to-power technology, we hope to contribute to the Alliance’s mission of advancing a low-carbon ammonia economy in the UK.”
For further information, please contact secretariat@ukammoniaalliance.co.uk.
*International Energy Association Ammonia Technology Roadmap Executive Summary
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