This stuff is the new lifeblood of the global economy
Green ammonia is well on its way to making shipping and heavy industry more sustainable. Here’s why.
Published on June 2, 2026
Team IO+ selects and features the most important news stories on innovation and technology, carefully curated by our editors.
For most people, ammonia brings to mind agriculture and fertilizer. Yet this simple molecule holds the key to the global energy transition. While the world struggles with the transportation of liquid hydrogen, ammonia offers a readily available alternative. As a result, this chemical product may well become the new oil of the global economy.
The breakthrough in Inner Mongolia
The first large-scale projects now prove that this transition is no longer a distant dream, but an industrial reality. The Inner Mongolia region has enormous potential for onshore wind and solar energy and, consequently, for the production of green hydrogen. In this context, Envision is developing China’s largest renewable ammonia project, fully off-grid. The project will be built in multiple phases and will ultimately have a capacity of 5 million tons of green ammonia per year. To achieve this, Envision is combining its own technologies for wind energy, batteries, electrolysis, and ammonia synthesis into a single integrated system.
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Why Ammonia beats hydrogen
The renewed industrial interest in ammonia didn’t come out of nowhere. Hydrogen is extremely volatile and requires cooling to nearly absolute zero for transport. Ammonia, on the other hand, remains liquid at a relatively mild temperature of minus 33 degrees Celsius under atmospheric pressure 🔗︎. This makes storage and long-distance transport by ship considerably easier 🔗︎. Furthermore, the existing global infrastructure for ammonia transport is already largely in place thanks to decades of fertilizer trade 🔗︎.
Many challenges remain to be overcome
However, in practice, ammonia has a lower volumetric energy density than liquefied natural gas (LNG). This means that ships running on ammonia require significantly larger storage tanks to maintain the same range 🔗︎. This inevitably comes at the expense of available cargo space on a cargo ship 🔗︎.
And there are more serious challenges. In high concentrations, the gas is extremely toxic to humans and the environment 🔗︎. Safety is therefore the most important prerequisite for the success of this new fuel. Extensive practical research has been conducted on this in the Port of Rotterdam in recent years. In May 2026, the MAGPIE project demonstrated that ship-to-ship bunkering of ammonia can be carried out safely in a busy port environment. This is done under strict protocols and using specialized loading arms that effectively prevent leaks. Ports use the so-called Port Readiness Level tool to assess safety and compliance with regulations 🔗︎. Due to its high toxicity, significantly greater safety distances apply than when bunkering liquefied natural gas 🔗︎. The knowledge and procedures gained in Rotterdam now serve as the new global standard for safe ammonia bunkering in international ports 🔗︎. This has paved the way for large-scale commercial application.
The maritime sector must change
The maritime sector is under enormous international pressure to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, ammonia production accounts for over 1.3 percent of global energy-related CO2 emissions 🔗︎. This is because the industry still relies largely on natural gas. But regulations are tightening rapidly. In January 2024, the European Union already expanded its Emissions Trading System (ETS) to include shipping 🔗︎. In addition, the strict FuelEU Maritime Regulation has been officially in effect since January 2025 🔗︎. This legislation requires shipowners to gradually reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the fuels they use 🔗︎.
Major engine manufacturers are responding directly to this with new technologies. For example, MAN Energy Solutions plans to deliver the first commercial ammonia-powered marine engines starting in 2027 🔗︎. This makes green ammonia the most promising candidate to replace traditional fuel oil.
A look to the future
The long-term outlook for green ammonia is extremely promising. Economists expect that by 2030, green ammonia will be cheaper than the blue variant in nearly all countries. Technological innovations such as the “dynamic coupling” technology from the Chifeng project are accelerating this price decline. This technology directly links ammonia synthesis to fluctuating wind and solar farms. Thanks to smart AI-driven strategies and local battery storage, the production process remains stable, even with a fluctuating power grid. This makes the technology highly exportable to regions with less stable energy infrastructure. For the European economy, this offers opportunities to permanently phase out dependence on fossil fuels.