BASF collaborates with industry partners to explore sustainable refinish coating solutions responding to new emission standards
- BASF and its partners respond actively to the new GB/T standards
- BASF commits to lowering carbon footprint for a sustainable future
- Provide innovative, eco-friendly solutions and service packages for dealers to meet volatile organic compounds targets
Shanghai, China – May 13, 2021 – As a leading player in the market, BASF Refinish Coatings invited all its partners along the value chain to jointly seek the optimal path to achieve the new volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission target, at the occasion of its Annual Dealers Conference in China held today in Shanghai.
In 2021, with the launch of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, the chemical industry focused its environmental protection goals on the low-carbon transformation of the industry and the comprehensive regulation of VOC emissions. Starting from February 1, the new recommended VOC emission standards (GB/T 38597-2020 Technical requirement for low-volatile-organic-compound-content coatings product) have come into force at the State level, placing stricter targets on the entire industry, especially for the automotive refinish industry. Provinces along the Yangtze River Delta, including Jiangsu and Shanghai, have taken a further step to adopt the GB/T standard as compulsory.
Liu Jie, Secretary in General, from China Coatings Industry Association, explained that the major trend of the refinish industry in the next five-year plan will focus on promoting low VOC products significantly. “We’ve seen quite some changes regarding VOC classification and regulation in the recommended version, which is meant to direct the industry towards the new standards in three to five years. This is a good opportunity for us to interpret the details, discuss the way forward and gather feedback from different industry players,” said Liu. “The ever stricter new standards signified the high importance and urgency the Chinese government would like to curb the VOC pollution from the sources.” Liu also shared the staggered implementation status across the country.
“BASF Coatings is responding actively to the central and local governments’ call to reduce VOC emissions. In fact BASF has defined comprehensive and transparent sustainability goals and announced its carbon neutral targets in 2050 in March, in line with the Chinese government’s carbon goal in 2060,” said Patrick Zhao, Senior Vice President, BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific. BASF wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It also significantly raised its medium-term 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent compared with 2018.
“We at BASF Coatings introduced the Coatings’ Carbon Footprint roadmap in 2020, which focused on reducing our carbon footprint along the value chain, from raw materials, production & processes, products & solutions to our employees,” said Patrick.
Close to 120 industry experts, association representatives, OEM partners and dealers agreed that thousands of body shops especially those smaller ones, remain to be the important source of VOC emission and pollution for the refinish industry. The new GB/T put forward challenging targets for all players, which requires all of them to take up the challenge together and co-explore how to continuously lower VOC emissions and meet the new targets while maintaining the growth of the industry.
BASF Refinish Coatings provides innovative, eco-friendly solutions and service packages to meet its own and its customers’ VOC emission targets. For example, NORBIN® 66, is the first waterborne basecoat developed in China, providing cost efficient waterborne coatings that help customers reduce VOC emissions. Glasurit® 100 Line, launched last year globally and in China, is the first basecoat line on the market with a VOC value below 250 g/l, which is a pioneering 40% below the limit of the China GB24409-2020 standard and exceeds all global VOC requirements.
About BASF’s Coatings division
The Coatings division of BASF is a global expert in the development, production and marketing of innovative and sustainable automotive OEM and refinish coatings, decorative paints as well as applied surface treatments for metal, plastic and glass substrates in a wide range of industries. The portfolio is completed by the “Innovation Beyond Paint” program which aims at developing new markets and businesses. We create advanced performance solutions and drive performance, design and new applications to meet our partners’ needs all over the world. BASF shares skills, knowledge and resources of interdisciplinary and global teams for the benefit of customers by operating a collaborative network of sites in Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific. In 2020, the Coatings division achieved global sales of about €3.1 billion.
Solutions beyond your imagination – Coatings by BASF. For more information about the Coatings division of BASF and its products, visit www.basf-coatings.com.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. More than 110,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €59 billion in 2020. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.
