Nitric Acid Climate Action Group (NACAG)
The long-term objective of Nitric Acid Climate Action Group (NACAG) is to incentivise the installation of effective N2O abatement technology in every nitric acid plant worldwide. NACAG’s vision is for the N2O emissions of an entire industrial sector to be mitigated on a global scale. The NACAG was launched by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) in order to increase mitigation action in the chemical industry. Considering technical and economic aspects, GHG abatement in the nitric acid sector is generally easy to implement and can be done at relatively low cost. This is the reason why this sector was chosen in the first place.
The NACAG initiative offers financial and technical support to individual nitric acid plant operators until the end of 2023. While the technical support is available to all governments and nitric acid producers worldwide, the financial support is bound to the condition that the government of the country in which the plant is located commits to sustaining the emission abatement from year 2024 onwards. Support is available through grants and climate auctions. This support covers not only the procurement and installation of the abatement technology and monitoring equipment required, but also any necessary plant modifications and labour costs related to monitoring and maintenance.
More details on financial support can be found here and more details on technical support can be found here.
Contact NACAG for inquires about joining or applying for a grant. Governments, institutions and representatives from the private sector are all invited to express interest in joining. Governments are furthermore invited to sign the Statement of Undertaking and thereby formally join NACAG by committing to permanently mitigate nitrous oxide emissions from nitric acid plants from 2023 onwards. Plant operators based in countries that have joined NACAG can apply for grants by filling in and signing the Grant Application Notice. If the application is successful, plant operators can receive technical advice and financial support for installing and maintaining abatement technology.
Applications to the financing program are assessed by GIZ. GIZ will then conduct a due diligence assessment of the nitric acid plant in question, and, once this has been passed, negotiate the contract with the applicant. The public tender procedure for procuring the mitigation technology and monitoring equipment starts and the installation of the technology begins. The plant operator is free to decide which abatement technology is most appropriate for the individual plant. NACAG will provide technological advice to support this decision.
Enrico Rubertus, Director of the NACAG Secretariat contact@nitricacidaction.org contact@nitricacidaction.org