Lower coffee emissions through reduced fertilizer emissions

Proba supports the coffee supply chain to reduce fertilizer-related emissions by quantifying and certifying insetting outcomes, enabling verified low-emission coffee claims.

Globally, coffee farmers rely on nitrogen-based fertilizers to maintain yields. Roughly 40% of a cup of coffee’s carbon footprint is fertilizers-related, long before the beans even hit the roaster. Both the production and application of fertilizers emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases. That’s why improving fertilizer technologies is one of the key drivers of coffee decarbonization.

Roasters & brands

Lower Scope 3 emissions by reducing fertilizer-related emissions, strengthen your climate claims, and grow sales with coffee that meets consumers’ sustainability demands.

Farmer cooperatives

Make it easy for your farmers to adopt improved fertilizer practices, raising productivity, reducing emissions, and increasing your competitiveness with sustainability-driven buyers.

Fertilizer producers & distributors

Grow your share of wallet with higher-margin specialty products and build longer-term relationships by helping farmers adopt fertilizer practices that deliver measurable sustainability and performance gains.

Commodity traders

Strengthen your position in the supply chain by offering flexible, verifiable environmental attributes alongside physical coffee flows, unlocking premiums and more secure volumes.

Fertilizers should be part of your sustainable agriculture strategy

Up to 40% of coffee’s footprint comes from fertilizer use on farms. Smarter options like nitrogen stabilizers and controlled-release fertilizers can significantly reduce emissions without hurting yields. The technology is easy and practical to use.

Small changes can deliver real Scope 3 reductions.

Download the white paper

A flagship project in Minais Gerais, cutting N₂O emissions by 60%

In partnership with one of Brazil’s largest arabica exporters, we’re supporting a program across Minas Gerais where coffee growers transition to controlled-release fertilizers. By cutting nitrous oxide emissions by more than 60%, improving yields, and reducing the number of applications required, the project generates verified environmental attributes that leading roasters and brands can use and report, as part of their SBTi commitments, strengthening both farm profitability and supply-chain decarbonization.

The Proba toolbox

Do the math

Explore the emission reduction potential of adopting nitrogen stabilizers or controlled-release fertilizers. Adding nitrification inhibitors will reduce the PCF of green beans with 14%.

Try the calculator

GHG Methodologies to support robust quantification and verification

Proba publishes solution-specific methodologies to quantify, verify, and certify greenhouse gas emission reductions. Companies can confidently report and claim them across their supply chains.

Check them out

Improved emission factors or impact units

We issue verified certificates that enable you to claim Scope 3 emission reductions across your supply chains, aligned with your chain-of-custody practices, mitigation approaches, and the leading accounting frameworks. We also provide improved emission factors to support your calculations.

How it works

1. We model the impact of CRFs or stabilizers in your sourcing regions

2. Help farmers adopt improved fertilizer practices

3. We quantify, verify, and issue the emission reductions

4. You sell or claim the benefits across your supply chain

What are your biggest challenges with reducing emissions in your coffee supply chain?

Share your supply chain details and we’ll help you pinpoint where fertilizer reduction delivers the biggest impact.