NitroCapt wins the 2025 Food Planet Prize
NitroCapt, an Innoenergy portfolio company, won the 2025 Food Planet Prize – the world’s largest environmental award focused on food systems – for its breakthrough technology to decarbonise nitrogen fertiliser production.
The award, worth $ 2 million, was announced in Stockholm and recognises NitroCapt’s potential to revolutionise one of the most emissions-intensive sectors of agriculture.
The Prize jury highlighted the urgent need to address the global overuse and fossil-based production of nitrogen fertilisers. NitroCapt’s technology offers a novel solution: a plasma-based process that fixes nitrogen from the air using only water, oxygen, and renewable electricity – completely eliminating the need for fossil fuels. The result is a nitrate fertiliser that can be produced locally, with a tenfold reduction in energy use, and with the potential to improve both environmental and soil health.
NitroCapt’s mission is to decarbonise the nitrogen fertiliser industry. The current fossil-based process has reached its end point. This Prize will be very important for us to bring our technology to the stage where we can start making a difference
Gustaf Forsberg, CEO and founder of NitroCapt
As a long-standing partner, InnoEnergy is proud to support NitroCapt in their mission to enable a more sustainable, secure, and resilient global food system.
A climate-smart breakthrough for agriculture
The nitrogen fertiliser industry is responsible for more than 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions – largely due to its dependency on fossil fuels and energy-intensive processes. NitroCapt offers an innovative, clean alternative that aligns with urgent climate goals and sustainable agriculture.
NitroCapt’s technology brings a wide range of benefits that make it uniquely positioned to reshape the fertiliser sector. By eliminating the need for fossil fuels, it drastically cuts greenhouse gas emissions and reduces the industry’s overall climate impact. Its energy-efficient process consumes up to 90% less energy than conventional methods, making it not only cleaner but also more cost-effective in the long term. The ability to produce fertiliser locally strengthens food security by reducing dependence on global supply chains and imported raw materials – a critical factor in an era of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
With nine letters of intent signed for 33 full-scale production units – together worth over €1 billion in commercial value – NitroCapt’s solution is already demonstrating strong market traction.
From global recognition to market acceleration
NitroCapt’s win comes during a period of rapid development and commercial progress:
- Launch of Sweden’s first domestic mineral nitrogen fertiliser production in nearly 20 years (April 2025): With the launch of SUNIFER®, NitroCapt has re-established domestic fertiliser production using only renewable energy – boosting food security and reducing Sweden’s reliance on imported, fossil-based fertilisers.
- Strategic collaboration with Axfood and Dafgårds (March 2025): A new partnership will see one million loaves of bread produced using grain grown with NitroCapt’s low-carbon fertiliser – showcasing a fully traceable and climate-friendly food supply chain from farm to shelf.
- First commercial order from Felleskjøpet Agri (October 2024): A Kr 10 million pre-order of SUNIFER® from the Norwegian farmers’ cooperative signals early commercial momentum and growing demand for sustainable fertiliser solutions.
- Collaboration with VIVESCIA to build green fertilizers production in France (September 2024): NitroCapt has entered a partnership with leading French cooperative VIVESCIA to build green fertiliser production capacity for up to 750,000 hectares of farmland in the Grand Est region.
Clean tech innovation must be scalable, impactful, and commercially viable. NitroCapt exemplifies these qualities by combining deep-tech innovation with global relevance, they are helping transform one of agriculture’s most entrenched carbon challenges into a climate opportunity.
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