Social engagement

• Community Advisory Panels for dialog with residents of the local communities
• Open Day at major sites in Greater China
• Stakeholder dialog sessions with Chinese NGOs

To enhance mutual understanding with various key stakeholder groups in Greater China, BASF conducts open dialog in a variety of forms, to better support the needs of the community where we operate. 

BASF supports many Community Advisory Panels (CAPs) around our larger production sites worldwide. Members of CAPs are elected from the local communities to regularly and openly discuss common issues of mutual interest with the management of BASF. In Greater China, BASF supports CAPs in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing and Taiwan.

In 2017, the new term of 19 CAP members at BASF Shanghai Pudong Innovation Park was selected from more than 160 applicants from the neighborhood. With diverse backgrounds, they will continuously foster open and transparent dialog between BASF and local residents.

At BASF-YPC Co. Ltd. (BASF-YPC), the 50:50 joint venture Verbund site of BASF and SINOPEC in Nanjing, a dialog session on environmental impact is held annually to foster exchange among the management of BASF-YPC, its neighboring community, officials from local authorities and environmental experts.

For the first time, the Chongqing CAP visited a customer of BASF, Chongqing Huafon Chemical Co. Ltd. Members were introduced to BASF’s role in downstream industries.

BASF invites members of the neighboring communities to open days at various sites in Greater China. BASF-YPC welcomed more than 120 residents from the neighborhood to its 2017 Open Day. Through a guided tour and various activities, participants were able to gain a clearer understanding of BASF-YPC’s safe production systems and its advanced energy saving and waste treatment measures.

BASF Maoming Petrochemical Co. Ltd., a joint venture between BASF and SINOPEC, held the first BASF Day together with the local Maoming Municipality featuring chemistry-based applications, attracting more than 300 visitors from the neighboring communities, government organizations and local schools.

The BASF site in Shanghai Caojing combined its annual Firefighting Sports Day with the Open Day event of Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, attended by 300 members of the community. As the only foreign-invested company to win the Shanghai 119 Firefighting Advanced Group Award, BASF sought to raise safety awareness and emergency response level of the whole park, in which it plays a leading role.

In November 2017, representatives from 12 Chinese environmental and educational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across the country were invited to BASF’s annual stakeholder dialog event in Shanghai. Highlighting the topic of water challenges and protection, BASF executives and experts exchanged their views with NGOs and shared experiences and innovative solutions in sustainable water management. Participants also visited Shanghai Waterworks Science & Technology Museum at Shanghai Yangshupu Water Plant, the oldest water plant with surface water as its source.

• Collaboration with Songshuhui-Association of Science Communicators
• Donation of LED light bulbs for school children near Kuanyin site
• Donation of materials for school renovation

BASF supports initiatives that have a long-term impact, and develops its not-for-profit activities in cooperation with partners and target groups, while strengthening existing projects.

In 2017, BASF organized public science education programs with the Songshuhui-Association of Science Communicators, a leading Chinese non-profit science education organization. The science salons attracted over 200 participants, while an online discussion on scientific thinking generated over 7.5 million views and responses.

BASF also collaborated with NPI Foundation, one of the largest agencies supporting the development of the social sector in China, to launch the “Clean Water Class” public education program in Shanghai, to raise public awareness of clean and safe drinking water, and to foster interest in science. Around 50 local school students, NGO staff and community members participated in the first of a series of interactive workshops, which will be rolled out throughout 2018. Along with the education program, BASF donated seven terminal water purification systems valued at over CNY 400,000 to two shared NGO incubation facilities in Shanghai. The donated systems, powered by BASF’s leading ultrafiltration membrane technology, provide a reliable source of drinking water directly to the 60 NGOs and cater for around 60,000 visitors each year.

BASF’s Kuanyin site in Taoyuan, Taiwan, donated about 3,000 T8 fluorescent LED lighting tubes to two local primary schools with limited resources. BASF employees implemented the “Sunshine lighting project”, to improve the lighting conditions in the classrooms with BASF’s newly developed color converting technology. After installation, the average illuminance in the schools increased by about 50%, while the energy consumption dropped nearly 50%.

In Hong Kong, BASF sponsored Nature Works 2017, an environmental leadership program organized by The Nature Conservancy. Under this program, 150 students in Hong Kong secondary schools developed conservation projects impacting their own schools. Three of the teams were also mentored by BASF volunteers.

BASF also joined Landsea Green Group Co. Ltd., the leading Chinese green property development operator and life service provider, in the “Green Bud Action” program, a renovation project to improve indoor air quality at Chinese kindergartens. By providing low volatile organic compound  interior wall coatings for free, BASF contributed to the renovation of ten kindergartens and two facilities for special needs children in China.

In recognition of our commitment to sustainability in China, BASF has received the “Best Corporate Citizenship” award from 21st Century Media Group for 13 consecutive years, and was the only chemical company awarded in 2017. Also for the first time, BASF was among the top three companies in the annual listing of “Outstanding Contribution for Fortune Global 500 Enterprises in China” by Southern Weekly newspaper. We have been included in this list for 11 consecutive years.

• Goodwill teachers
• Taiwan Volunteer Club

BASF sponsors various volunteering options and encourages its employees worldwide to participate.

For more than a decade, the “Goodwill Teacher” program has been supporting the Shanghai Association of Persons with Physical Disability (SAPPD) for its long-term initiative “Intellectual Assistance to the Disabled”. The initiative helps teenagers from disabled families who often face challenges at school and cannot afford extracurricular tutoring. Since 2005, BASF volunteers have been teaching oral English to these students during weekends. As an extension of the program, BASF set up a scholarship in 2006 and has financed hundreds of outstanding or underprivileged students. In 2017, we were awarded by SAPPD as one of the “Outstanding Companies for Intellectual Assistance to the Disabled” for the ninth consecutive year.

The BASF Taiwan Volunteer Club offers long-term support to social welfare organizations through public fundraising efforts and donations. In 2017, the club held a Christmas celebration and donated gifts to members of Kindgarden, a home to people with intellectual disabilities, and children at the Reindeer Children Home. Together with the Hsiuping Education Foundation, the club also holds a “career exploration camp” each year for middle school students from underprivileged families in Chiayi County. Students are encouraged to explore their vocational interests by learning about occupations such as music producers, bakery chefs, tea makers, sales representatives, social workers, and so on.

• Almost 12,000 participants in Greater China in 2017
• “Clever Foodies” program launched for global 20th anniversary

Kids’ Lab, a hands-on chemistry workshop for children aged 6-12, allows children to experience and discover the world of chemistry and science. To celebrate the global 20th anniversary of Kids’ Lab, a new experiment program, “Clever Foodies”, was created to foster dietary awareness and healthier eating habits among children. It was rolled out at Kids’ Lab sessions throughout Greater China. Now young scientists can also click online to choose from a vast array of interactive experiments in the Virtual Lab. In 2017, a series of online experiments, named “Experiments with Dr. Bubbles”, were launched via WeChat in China. Updated on a monthly basis, the online experiments further engage parents and children to explore the magic of chemistry at home together.  

2017 marked 15 years of Kids’ Lab in Greater China, with the number of participants reaching 11,939 by year end. To date, BASF has hosted a total of 184,078 participants in 11 cities in Greater China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hong Kong, supported by nearly 1,000 university students as volunteer teachers.