Sustainability News

The footwear specialist for ultrarunning and long-distance shoes, Mount to Coast, Hong Kong, China, and BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany have entered into a strategic partnership to explore high-performance, sustainable solutions for runners. CircleCELL™, an innovative midsole, is the first footwear technology the collaboration has produced. Based on BASF’s new biopolymer ecoflex® BMB, the new midsole is 90% more durable while showing the same energy return as midsoles made of polyether block amide (PEBA), a material widely used for performance running shoes. Biomass-balanced ecoflex® supports Mount to Coast in increasing the use of renewable feedstocks in its unique process of foaming the CircleCELL™ midsole while preserving the characteristics performance shoes require, most importantly, durability.

BASF announced today that it will invest in additional production capacity for its X3D^® technology, a new additive manufacturing technology for catalysts based on 3D printing. The plant will produce catalysts on an industrial scale and is expected to be operational in 2026. 

The globally recognized climate change organization and product carbon footprint (PCF) verifier “the Carbon Trust” has verified the BASF products 1,6-hexanediol (HDO), formic acid (FA), propionic acid (PA) and neopentyl glycol (NPG). The products have therefore achieved the Carbon Trust label and Lower than Market claim. This confirms that the products have a cradle-to-gate PCF that is demonstrably lower than the market average for fossil-based equivalent products. The verification is valid until May 2026. For PA and NPG, the verification only applies to the European production.

Ludwigshafen, Germany and Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 5, 2024 – BASF and Acies Bio, one of Europe’s leading biotechnology companies, have entered into a transformative partnership to further develop a platform for fermentation technology from methanol for the production of fatty alcohols. Fatty alcohols are essential building blocks for several ingredients in the home and personal care markets, in particular surfactants. Acies Bio’s biotechnological expertise complements BASF’s drive for innovative solutions and contributes to shaping a more sustainable future.

Ludwigshafen, Germany / Chiuduno, Italy – KASK, the iconic Italian helmet brand, is using expandable polystyrene (EPS) granules Neopor^® Ccycled^® from BASF for the production of safety helmets for workers. In the manufacturing process of Neopor^® Ccycled^® fossil feedstocks are replaced by pyrolysis oil obtained from recycled post-consumer plastic waste through chemical recycling at the very beginning of the BASF value chain using the mass balance approach. This way, BASF is able to offer Neopor^® Ccycled^® with a Product Carbon Footprint reduced by approximately 90% compared to conventional Neopor^®. KASK is now using this more sustainable EPS to produce the internal shell of the Primero series as well as the internal shell of the Zenith X and Superplasma safety helmet series from the end of October 2024. These products feature the same high quality and safety performance and an improved product carbon footprint in comparison to using conventional EPS. By choosing these product series, which together cover the majority of helmets sold, KASK is able to make a positive impact on the circular economy.