Volker Andresen

Mr. Volker Andresen is a seasoned business development executive from Germany who joined the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) as Technical Director in 2012 and assumed the position of Sustainability Director in 2021.

Volker led the development of IFA’s product stewardship certification (Protect & Sustain), regular benchmarks on employee safety, production emissions and energy efficiency, as well as reports on the sustainable management and use of Phosphogypsum.

More recent projects included the development of decarbonization roadmaps for ammonia production at both the global and country levels, the establishment of IFA’s Sustainable Fertilizer Academy (www.ifa-sfa.org), as well as the promotion of strategic topics like biodiversity and best AI practices to the membership. He is also leading IFA’s NextGen Safety project, leveraging AI and modern technologies like robots and drones to help reduce high-severity incidents and deliver practical, scalable safety tools to IFA members.

On top of his technical and sustainability tasks, Volker has coordinated IFA's activities in the former Soviet Union for seven years and is focusing on China since then.
Prior to IFA, Volker has held senior-level positions at IBM, Survey Sampling International, and the World Liquid Gas Association. He has a master’s degree in economics and is the son of a farmer.