Afternoon. My name is Jeff Holzman, Nutrien's Vice President of Investor Relations. Before we start today's meeting, we would like to outline the agenda and various procedures and guidelines. In terms of agenda, our Chair, Russ Girling, will call the meeting to order and address various preliminary matters. This will be followed by a brief address from Ken Seitz, our Interim President and CEO. The items of business to be voted on will then be moved, to be followed by formal discussion and a brief general shareholder question and answer session. Registered shareholders and proxy holders of record are now able to submit comments or questions via the messaging platform on your screen, and the electronic ballot for voting is also now available on your screen. You are encouraged to submit any comments or questions and complete your ballot in advance of the Q&A session.
Voting will then close, and the chair will report the voting results. During the formal discussion and Q&A portion of the meeting, comments or questions will be read aloud before being addressed, and the name of the submitting shareholder or proxyholder may be disclosed. Comments or questions that are redundant or that have inappropriate language or are otherwise unduly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be addressed. Questions that are not part of the formal discussion of the meeting's items of business may not be addressed. If, during the course of the meeting we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged on, and we will resume as soon as possible. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that today's meeting may include forward-looking statements.
These statements are given as of today's date and involve risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with securities regulators. A number of factors and assumptions were applied in the formulation of such statements, and actual results could differ materially. For additional information with respect to forward-looking statements, factors, and assumptions, we direct you to Nutrien's public filings. I will now turn things over to Russ.
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this annual meeting of Nutrien. My name is Russ Girling, and I'm the Chair of the Board of Directors. Thank you, Jeff, for outlining today's agenda, procedures, and guidelines. The meeting will now come to order. As Chair of the Board, I will act as chair of the meeting. In the event I'm disconnected from the meeting as a result of a technical issue, Mr. Seitz will assume the role of chair of the meeting. Robert A. Kirkpatrick, the corporation's Corporate Secretary, will act as secretary of the meeting. With the concurrence of the meeting, I appoint Jennifer Oliver of Computershare Investor Services to act as the scrutineer. I've been informed by the scrutineer that we have shareholders present or represented by proxies who hold sufficient number of shares to constitute a quorum.
I therefore declare that there is a quorum at this meeting. The scrutineer's report will be kept by the secretary with the records of this meeting. Each year, Nutrien used Notice and Access to deliver its annual financial statements and meeting materials, and as a result, the notice of meeting and the management proxy circular are accessible on Nutrien's website and under Nutrien's profile on SEDAR and EDGAR. I have received the affidavits of publication of record, date for this year, and the distribution of notice and access notice and the proxy form. I directed a copy of the notice, together with proof of service from the secretary with the records of this meeting. With that, I now declare the meeting regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. Ken Seitz, our Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, will now provide you with a few comments.
Thank you, Russ, and good afternoon, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to provide an update on the outlook for our business and how we are positioning the company to create sustained value for all stakeholders. Nutrien delivered strong results in 2021 and we expect to generate significantly higher earnings and cash flow in 2022 due to the strength of market fundamentals and the advantaged position of our assets. We entered the year with tight supply for agriculture and processing products, and the conflict in Ukraine has further compounded the issues. We believe there is no simple or fast solution to overcoming these supply challenges, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the impact on agriculture and fertilizer markets could last well beyond 2022. In potash, sanctions on Russia and Belarus have the potential to create lasting changes to global trade patterns as customers prioritize reliability of supply.
We announced a plan to increase production capability to approximately 15 million tons in 2022, an increase of one million tons compared to our initial expectations. This represents a nearly 20% increase compared to 2020 and accounts for more than 70% of global potash production during this time. We continue to closely monitor market conditions as we assess the potential to ramp our potash production capability above 15 million tons. We have low cost, strategically located nitrogen assets that are well-positioned to serve global fertilizer and industrial end-use markets. We have increased our nitrogen production capacity by nearly one million tons since the beginning of 2018 and are in the process of adding an additional half a million tons over the next few years.
We are evaluating additional opportunities to enhance product mix and the environmental footprint of our facilities, including expanding our leading low-carbon ammonia position. Our retail team has effectively navigated a number of global supply chain challenges by utilizing the strength of our world-class execution platform and strategic partnerships. We've increased our sales and margins while continuing to expand our retail platform and proprietary products business. We expect to allocate approximately $1 billion to identify growth opportunities across our businesses in 2022 that have a strong strategic fit and excellent returns. In February, we announced our intention to return a minimum of $3 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. Given the strength of our projected cash flow, we believe there's potential for additional shareholder returns as the year progresses. We will share more details on our capital allocation plans at our virtual investor update meeting on June ninth.
We've made significant progress on several key sustainability initiatives, and I would like to highlight a few areas. First is related to our environment and climate action plan. We set a target for a 30% reduction in scope one and two GHG emissions per ton by 2030 compared to the 2018 baseline. Over the past year, we've advanced a number of decarbonization projects in nitrogen that are expected to reduce CO2-equivalent emissions by approximately one million tons by the end of 2023. These projects represent an important first step towards achieving our 2030 target. Nutrien is committed to setting a science-based emissions reduction target, and we are working in partnership with peers in our sector to develop a pathway for decarbonization that is supportive of net-zero by 2050.
The second area to highlight is the excellent response we've received on our carbon pilot program that was launched at the end of 2020. This past year, we had 225,000 acres enrolled in North America, which is more than double our initial expectation. We will leverage key learnings and feedback from our broad base of partners to refine our portfolio approach to generating verifiable carbon assets for the grower. In 2022, we plan on expanding the acreage enrolled in the program by three to four times in North America, enhance the system measures and management, and we'll be rolling out pilots in Australia and South America. Finally, I would like to thank our employees for stepping up to the challenge during this critical period of global agriculture.
It is through your efforts that we are able to utilize the full potential of our integrated platform to advance sustainable agriculture practices while creating lasting value for all our stakeholders. I will now turn things back over to Russ Girling.
Thank you, Ken. The next matter on the agenda is the presentation of the comparative consolidated financial statements for the year ending December 31st, 2021, and the report of the auditors. In accordance with the Canada Business Corporations Act, the statements are presented to the meeting, and no other action is required with respect to them. It is now in order to move to today's formal items of business. I'll move each of those items. I have been advised that Mr. Seitz and Mr. Kotak, both proxy holders and attendees today, they would be prepared to second each of the motions I so move. Accordingly, unless there are any objections, I will take such motions as seconded with no further action required.
Voting on the applicable items of business presented for today's meeting is being conducted by a single electronic ballot that is now available, and voting will close approximately one minute following the conclusion of the formal discussion and Q&A session. Once the voting closes, the scrutineer will calculate the results of the vote for each matter of business. All items of business identified in the notice of meeting will be moved. First is the election of directors. The management proxy circular sets forth the background of each of the nominees and the qualifications considered in making the director nominations. Election of 11 candidates listed in the management proxy circular will be nominated for election today, and votes may only be cast in favor of nominees. We have our first nominee, our second nominee, and that's Michael Hennigan.
The other 10 nominees are all elected at Nutrien's 2021 annual meeting. The proposed nominees today are Christopher Burley, Maura Clark, Michael Hennigan, Miranda Hubbs, Raj Kushwaha, Alice Laberge, Consuelo Madere, Keith Martell, Aaron Regent, Nelson Silva, and me, Russ Girling. Thank you to all the nominees for agreeing to stand for election today. I move to formally nominate as a director each of the proposed nominees. As there are no nominations in accordance with the advance notice requirements of the company's annual bylaw, I declare the nominations closed. I also move to elect each of the 11 named individuals as directors of the corporation. As I advised earlier, I still keep such motions as seconded. Formal discussion, if any, will take place once all items of business identified in the notice of meeting have been moved.
The next order of business on the agenda is the appointment of the auditors. I move that the resolution to approve reappointing KPMG LLP chartered accountants as auditors of the corporation to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting or until a successor is appointed, and again take such motion as seconded. The next item of business before the meeting today is the consideration and approval of the non-binding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation as disclosed in the management proxy circular. I move that this resolution be approved and take such motion as seconded. The motions are now open for formal discussion and general shareholder questions will be answered at this time. Jeff, if you'd please read any comments or questions that need to be addressed.
There are currently no comments or questions to be addressed, so I'll now turn things back over to Russ.
Thank you, Jeff. Discussion of the items of business and our general Q&A session is now closed. Accordingly, there is now one minute remaining to complete your ballot, after which your ballot will be automatically submitted. As a reminder, you can vote for or withhold in respect of each of the 11 director nominees and the appointment of KPMG and for or against the non-binding advisory resolution regarding Nutrien's approach to executive compensation. Over the next minute, music will play in the background until the final voting is completed. Based on the proxy tabulation results provided by Computershare regarding the matters to be voted on with respect to the resolutions regarding election of each of the individuals nominated as directors, I declare that each of the 11 nominees is elected as a director of the corporation.
With respect to the resolution reappointing KPMG LLP as auditors of the corporation, I declare this motion carried. With respect to the non-binding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation, I declare this resolution carried. There being no further business, I move that the meeting be terminated and declare such motion as seconded. I declare the motion carried and the meeting terminated. Thank you all for taking the time to join our meeting today and your continued support of our company.