Our Values and Global Standards
Chemistry is our passion. We want to be the most attractive partner for our customers to overcome challenges that can be solved with chemistry. Our customers are at the center of everything we do. With our products and technologies, our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and the power of our Verbund integration, we want to grow profitably and at the same time, create value for society and the environment. This is our goal, which is embedded in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.
Humankind is facing enormous challenges. The climate is changing, natural resources are becoming scarcer, pressure on ecosystems is increasing and our growing world population needs to be fed. More and more urgently than ever, solutions are needed for a sustainable future. Chemistry plays a key role here. In almost all areas of life, it can pave the way to greater sustainability with innovative products and technologies and accelerate the change needed to achieve this. This belief is expressed in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.
Our mission and motivation is to grow profitably and make a positive contribution to society and the environment. For example, BASF’s solutions help to protect the climate, avoid or recycle waste, use resources more efficiently, produce healthy and affordable food, and enable climate-smart mobility.
At the same time, we are undergoing profound changes. We need to transform our company, as we have done repeatedly in the more than 150-year history of BASF. This time, we are moving toward climate neutrality and the circular economy. This involves managing long-term policy decisions like the European Green Deal, overcoming the consequences of current geopolitical conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, and driving forward digitalization. All of this requires a clear vision as well as a high degree of creativity and flexibility.
Both long-term trends and short-term developments in an environment characterized by volatility and uncertainty are challenging for the chemical industry. At the same time, they also open up numerous opportunities for new business areas and innovative products.
We want to lead the way in the chemical industry and responsibly shape the change – with ambitious targets and a concrete roadmap: We are gradually switching our energy and raw materials supplies from fossil to renewable sources. We are adapting our Verbund structure to the new circumstances as the basis for resource-efficient, safe and reliable production. We are developing new, pioneering carbon-free and low-carbon production processes for our products. We are accelerating our innovation processes and deepening cooperation with customers, suppliers and other partners to develop high-performance products with a lower carbon footprint. We are developing recycling technologies for various waste streams to strengthen the circular economy. We are harnessing the many opportunities of digitalization across all areas of the company. We are systematically aligning our portfolio with growth areas and future technologies , and are integrating sustainability into our value chains even more strongly. We create a working environment in which our employees can thrive and contribute to BASF’s long-term success.
Our Strategic Action Areas
BASF’s strategic orientation is founded on a comprehensive analysis of our markets, competitors and the economic environment. We continuously monitor global trends and short-term developments and anticipate the resulting opportunities and risks. The following six strategic action areas enable us to focus on our customers while strengthening our leading position in a competitive environment.
Innovation is the bedrock of our success. BASF is a leader in the chemical industry with around 10,000 employees in research and development and R&D spending of around €2.3 billion. We are expanding this position by strengthening our research activities, bringing research and development even closer together, and fostering cooperation.
We see sustainability as an integral part of our strategy as well as our targets, steering processes and business models. Our approach covers the entire value chain – from the responsible procurement of our raw materials and safety and resource efficiency in production to sustainable solutions for our customers.
Our core business is the production and processing of chemicals. Our strength here lies in the Verbund. It opens up numerous synergies and advantages for us, for example in the development and application of new technologies. We are therefore continuing to invest in our Verbund structure. At the same time, we are strengthening our presence in growth regions in order to produce locally for the local markets and thus close to our customers.
Good to know
Our customers in focus
BASF supplies products and services to around 82,000 customersfrom almost all sectors and countries around the world. Ourcustomers are mainly global and small and medium-sized companies, but also include end consumers. We are continually refining our organizational structure so that our operating divisions can flexibly address specific market and customer requirements and differentiate themselves from the competition. The operating divisions pursue different business strategies – from cost leadership in basic chemicals to tailored system solutions for specific customer applications. Above and beyond this, we are intensifying cooperation with our customers to jointly leverage innovation and growth potential. For instance, we have established around 60 strategic customer networks to address the needs of our most important customers even better and more quickly.
We want to leverage the diverse growth potential of digitalization and seize the associated opportunities to the benefit of our customers. To achieve this, we promote digital skills among our employees, cooperate with partners and make digital technologies and ways of working an integral part of our business.
Investments, acquisitions and divestitures play a key role in strengthening our portfolio. We are focusing on innovation-driven growth areas and sustainable technologies such as battery materials, polymer technologies and catalytic and biotechnological methods.
Our employees are key to BASF’s success. That is why we believe that it is important to have an inspiring working environment that fosters and develops employees’ individual talents and enables them and their teams to perform at their best.
We want to help change the world for the better. This is what drives us and is at the core of our corporate purpose. How we act is critical. BASF’s four corporate values serve as a compass for us worldwide and are simultaneously an expression of our ambitions and our shared identity.
Together with our Code of Conduct and our global standards, our CORE values lay the foundation for responsible conduct and trust-based relationships with our stakeholders. They define how we want to work together – as a team, with our customers and our partners:
C – creative:
We make great products and solutions for our customers. This is why we embrace bold ideas and give them space to grow. We act with optimism and inspire one another.
O – open:
We value diversity, in people, opinions and experience. This is why we foster feedback based on honesty, respect and mutual trust. We learn from setbacks.
R – responsible:
We value the health and safety of people above all else. We make sustainability part of every decision. We are committed to strict compliance and environmental standards.
E – entrepreneurial:
We focus on our customers, as individuals and as a company. We seize opportunities and think ahead. We take ownership and embrace personal accountability.
Our standards are based on, and in some cases, exceed existing laws and regulations and take internationally recognized principles
into account. We respect and promote:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two U.N.
- Human Rights Covenants
- The 10 principles of the U.N. Global Compact
- The core labor standards of the ILO and the Tripartite Declaration of
- Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy
- The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
- The Responsible Care® Global Charter
- The German Corporate Governance Code
We stipulate binding rules for our employees with our standards and guidelines that apply throughout the Group. Our aim is to prevent
compliance violations from the outset through compulsory training for all employees and special training for leaders. The Corporate Audit
department continuously monitors compliance with requirements. We regularly assess our performance in environmental protection,
health and safety as part of our Responsible Care Management System. We realize our responsibility to behave in accordance with
international and social standards largely in three ways: through our Compliance Program, including our Code of Conduct and compliance
hotlines, through close dialog with stakeholders and through the global management process to respect international labor norms. We
pursue sustainability-oriented supply chain management and expect our business partners to comply with prevailing laws, regulations and
internationally recognized principles. Here, too, we have established appropriate monitoring systems.
See basf.com/humanrights for more information on the Policy Statement on Human Rights and a comprehensive report on the implementation of due diligence in accordance with the requirements of the National Action Plan developed by the German government, and in accordance with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
For more information on the Human Rights Advisory Council, see basf.com/human-rights-council
For more information on labor and social standards, see basf.com/labor_social_standards
