Chemistry is our passion.
We make use of this passion for our customers: We want to offer them the best possible solutions and help them achieve their sustainability goals. 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 in order to preserve a world worth living in for future generations. 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 and accelerate the transformation needed to achieve this. Our innovative products, solutions and technologies help to improve quality of life and protect the environment as well as the climate. We achieve this by using raw materials more efficiently, reducing waste and enabling the production of healthy and affordable food as well as climate-smart mobility.
At the same time, BASF is also undergoing profound changes. We are transforming our company and breaking new ground to increase our profitability and achieve climate neutrality. We are facing up to the challenge of making this change socially just. This involves managing long-term policy decisions like the European Green Deal, overcoming the consequences of current geopolitical conflicts and driving forward digitalization.
Electrification of our steam crackers
Steam crackers split petroleum into olefins and aromatics – both important groups of substances for numerous chemical value chains. Heating concepts that use electricity from renewable sources could reduce process-related emissions by at least 90% in the future. At the beginning of 2024, this plant was completed at our Ludwigshafen site in Germany and has since then been gradually being put into operation.
Rethinking energy supply
Electricity from renewable sources is a key component for BASF on the path to climate neutrality. To ensure that we can meet our growing demand in the future, we are gradually converting our supply contracts to green electricity and investing in our own plants. In 2023, we successfully advanced our plan for a power supply from renewable sources.
At the same time, these challenges also open up numerous opportunities for new business areas and innovative products. All of this requires a clear vision, responsible action as well as a high degree of creativity and flexibility.
We want to grow profitably and sustainably. To this end, we have set ourselves ambitious targets and defined concrete measures to achieve them: To increase our profitability, we are strengthening our competitiveness with our cost savings program focusing on Europe and we are adapting our Verbund structures in Ludwigshafen, Germany, to ensure the site remains future-proof. We are investing in growth markets, particularly in Asia, with China as the largest and most important growth driver of global chemical production. Furthermore, we are undergoing a fundamental transformation in the way we steer our company. As part of our Differentiated Steering concept, we are implementing new financial steering indicators tailored to each business. Our operating divisions are also continuing to adapt their specific business models and processes – supported by customized process structures, IT systems and governance frameworks.
To further embed sustainability in our business activities, we are driving innovations for a sustainable future, focusing our portfolio on growth areas and developing products with a lower carbon footprint. We are pioneers in climate-neutral production. This means we are gradually converting our energy supply from fossil fuels to renewable sources, developing new, pioneering emission-free and low-emission production processes for our products as well as strengthening the circular economy through the use of alternative raw materials and new recycling technologies. The success of these measures depends primarily on the ideas and commitment of our employees. This is why we want to create an environment in which they can thrive and contribute to BASF’s long-term success. Moreover, the diverse potential of digitalization used in our processes and business models further contributes to the successful implementation of these measures.
Innovation is the bedrock and driver 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 €2.1 billion in 2023. We want to further strengthen this position by driving forward our research activities, especially in agriculture, battery materials, polymer technologies and catalytic and biotechnological methods.
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. We are focusing our product portfolio even more strongly on resource efficiency, climate change and energy as well as circular economy. That is why we have updated our Sustainable Solution Steering (TripleS) methodology for steering the product portfolio based on sustainability criteria.
Our core business is the production and processing of chemicals. Our strength here lies in the Verbund and its integrated value chains. It opens up numerous synergies and advantages to 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.
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 amoung out 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. Following major acquisitions in recent years, we plan to further develop our portfolio through smaller, bolt-on acquisitions in the future. We are steering our portfolio toward innovation-driven growth areas.
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.
As an international chemical company, we operate in markets and countries with different requirements and conditions. We always follow our corporate values and standards in order to act responsibly and secure our license to operate. By living these values every day, we ensure a culture of respect for our customers, partners and employees.
Together with our Code of Conduct Code of Conduct and our global standards, our CORE values lay the foundation for responsible conduct and trustbased relationships with our stakeholders. They define how we want to work together:
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.
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.
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.
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:
In a time of geopolitical upheaval, our binding values and standards become even more important. They give us orientation and are the basis for respect and trust.
The main guidelines are primarily summarized in our Group regulations on compliance, human rights, labor and social standards and in the Supplier Code of Conduct. We want to ensure that we act in line with the applicable laws and uphold our responsibility to the environment and society with our comprehensive management and 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
