What if you could turn your passion into a force for good? After a life-changing personal experience and a desire to use his work to protect the climate, Charlie embarked on a project to deliver water to parts of the world where it is scarce - using solar-powered drip irrigation. This transformative new system uses 40% less energy while supporting food security in communities that desperately need it.
Jingwen: Curiosity and collaboration
For Jingwen, the root of change is curiosity and working together. This is what led her into a lead innovation role at BASF. Inspired by brilliant minds in the chemical industry and academia, she works with scientists from universities and start-ups to affect positive change. She believes that science and collaboration are vital for climate protection.
Gabriela: More sustainability in the home care industry
Gabriela Uchôna dos Santos, 28, works in Technical Service at the site in São Paulo, Brazil. She is passionate about our customers. She works closely with them to develop innovative solutions tailored to their needs. As part of a project to produce more eco-friendly cleaning agents, she worked in a team on a preservative of natural origin – one of the few ingredients that has mainly been produced synthetically until now. The basis: terpenes extracted from orange peel. No other country produces more oranges than Brazil. So why not use the peel? The preservative Lutensit® EcoCitrus can be used in a variety of household cleaners and detergents to effectively counteract bacteria and fungi in an environmentally friendly way. By using recycled and renewable raw materials instead of fossil ones, Gabriela wants to contribute to more sustainability and environmental compatibility in the home care industry.
Rutger: Chemistry is the industry of industries
Rutger Leenknecht, 27, is an expert in carbon management at our Verbund site Antwerp, Belgium. Inspired by his grandfather, a chemistry professor, Rutger decided to become a chemical engineer. It all starts with chemistry. Chemistry is the industry of industries. Rutger is convinced that a significant contribution to society and environmental protection can be made here, at the beginning of the value chain. As part of the team, he is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 and nitrogen dioxide in production. Coordination between different production plants and supply units is crucial here – Rutger wants to reuse the energy that one plant releases as a resource elsewhere. These optimization measures help BASF to continuously reduce the carbon footprint and use resources efficiently.
Zi Ming: Passion for innovation in chemistry
Zi Ming Yang, 30, works as a researcher at BASF’s Innovation Campus in Shanghai, China. She comes from the Chinese province of Shanxi, an area that is primarily characterized by coal mining. She realized early on that she wanted to work in sustainable technology research. Her passion for innovation in chemistry led her from her hometown to Oxford University and back to Shanghai. Today, she works with a team on pioneering technologies for advanced heating concepts, hydrogen recovery and CO2 efficiency. Zi Ming focuses in particular on technology scouting, benchmarking and process modeling to accelerate the transition of cutting-edge technologies from the lab to the production line.
Jade: Giving plastics a new life
Jade Rodriguero Dino, 27, works in the Plastics Additives division at BASF in São Paulo. Her role in product management involves advising customers in South America on how to make plastics recycling more efficient with the support of the Brazilian brand B-Cycle®. Efficient and quality sorting of plastic waste on-site is a key element of the circular economy. One solution is the mobile near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy solution from the BASF subsidiary trinamiX. It identifies plastics at the touch of a button and thus contributes to quality assurance in recycling plants worldwide. This technology, combined with the IrgaCycle® additive portfolio, contributes to giving plastics a new life.
Linde: Meet the growing need for green electricity
Linde Eysermans, 25, studied energy engineering and works as a utility manager at BASF in Belgium. Her role primarily involves ensuring a reliable supply of electricity for the Antwerp site’s operations, while also monitoring and settling consumption levels. By 2050, BASF aims to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions for production and energy purchases. BASF is actively exploring new electricity-based production processes to reach this goal. As part of its sustainability initiatives, there is an increasing demand for green electricity at BASF Antwerp. On one hand, Linde and her colleagues are working to significantly expand the electricity grid’s capacity to meet the growing need for electricity. This is a significant undertaking given the size of the Antwerp Verbund site. On the other hand, there is a specific focus on sourcing green electricity. This involves investments in wind farms, solar parks, and green electricity contracts, with the overarching goal of achieving a global proportion of at least 60 percent green electricity by 2030.
Wan: Chemistry as an art form
Wan Chen, 29, works at the BASF Innovation Campus Shanghai. BASF is developing recycling technologies for various waste streams and thus strengthening the circular economy. Wan is part of this. She has a doctorate in chemical engineering and is carrying out process research and scaling up the chemical recycling of plastic waste. For Wan, chemistry is not just a process, but an art form. Chemists solve complex problems and create something new in the process.
Alysée has come a long way on her sustainability journey - by bike of course! She started by soaking up her sisters’ enthusiasm for sustainability, now she’s sharing her passion with the next generation. Because attitudes can change just like that. Voilà!
Claire: Where science meets heart
What happens when you mix precision with passion? You get engineer Claire. In the home of Motown, she’s putting her soul into her climate action plans. From annual energy efficiency improvements at home to leading initiatives to reduce waste at work, Claire's efforts are hitting all the right notes.
Hyunsuk: Step by step change
Hyunsuk spearheaded the switch to reusable cups at the BASF office in Seoul, taking the challenge in her stride. It’s no wonder, since she spends her weekends climbing mountains across Korea!