Sustainability
TripleS: transparent sustainability for our customers
Society and our customers have been taking a great responsibility in the business contribution to sustainability over the past decades. We are committed to understand these evolving expectations and use these opportunities to develop further and minimize risks.
Objectives
Our customers are looking for consistent, high quality yet sustainable solutions. They also want to contribute to a sustainable future while keeping in mind the three parameters of sustainability, which is developing environmental and social sustainable solutions without compromising on profitable business. Therefore, BASF has embedded sustainability in its corporate purpose: “We create chemistry for a sustainable future.” This ambition is directly linked to several business factors:
- A growing customer demand to provide sustainable solutions
- New regulations, standards and commitments related to sustainability in all value chains
- Changing societal and business environments prompting demand for sustainable products
We therefore closely cooperate with our customers in creating and driving more sustainable solutions, which also make good business sense.
TripleS at a glance:
- The method is established at BASF, for more than 10 years
- Approximately 45,000 solutions are analyzed worldwide
- Thousands of experts in approximately 80 business units are involved
- Each product in its application can be assigned to one of 5 TripleS segments
- The new KPI will be published in the annual report February 2024
What do we do?
The TripleS method is spinning for Sustainable-Future Solutions (SFS) by defining the balance between the three dimensions of sustainability - Environment, Society and Economy. We are committed to find sustainable solutions by connecting creative minds while sourcing and producing responsibly.
In 2021, we generated sales of €24.1 billion with Accelerator products (2020: €16.7 billion) – already reaching our targeted €22 billion in Accelerator sales by 2025.
With the update, BASF is fostering developments in transformation topics linked to carbon management like Climate Change & Energy, Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy. Realization and adaptation of processes according to regulatory environmental authorities to improve overall assessment processes. We intend to early identify solutions which in future are likely to be affected by regulations and to avoid negative market perception
How do we do it?
We use a cross-sectional assessment setup by focusing on a two-step process
- Basic Sustainability Requirements: We identify material sustainability lacks acting as an early-warning indicator for our product portfolio. Each solution in its respective application and region is evaluated based on corporate minimum requirements and stakeholder specific criteria. This covers BASF’s Code of Conduct. Chemicals hazard and exposure across the life cycle, anticipated regulatory trends and sustainability ambitions along the value chain and risks for the company’s reputation
- Sustainability Value Contribution: After clearance of basic sustainability requirements, controversial business areas and contribution to one of the nine defined sustainability categories are checked. All relevant elements contributing to a sustainable future are subsequently analyzed and documented. Our Pioneer and Contributor products are the best choice for sustainable-future solutions in their application.
TripleS Portfolio Segments
The two-step process leads to a differentiation of our product portfolio into five sustainability segments (Pioneer, Contributor, Standard, Monitored, Challenged). These five TripleS segments cover the full range of sustainability performance, from solutions with a substantial sustainability contribution, to solutions performing on market standard, to solutions with a significant sustainability concern. BASF’s goal is to have enough segmented products by the end of 2023 to define the new KPI, “Sustainable-Future Solutions”, which represents the sum of Pioneer and Contributor products.
With the updated method TripleS, we are committed to deeper integrate transformative topics into the assessment process and increase transparency on BASF’s portfolio contributions to Carbon Management. These transformative topics include contributing to reduce and mitigate climate change and energy in the value chain, promoting circularity in or through our products and the reducing the use of resources during the production process or in the value chain.
In addition, upcoming legal requirements for the chemical industry are considered within the assessment. This covers, amongst others, European developments as introduced by the Chemical’s Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) as well as new international protocols related to, environment, health, and safety regulations. Regulatory developments, such as the revision of the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in the United States, are directly integrated into the new method.
With this update we have integrated the TripleS evaluation even more deeply into the assessment of our R&D project pipeline also considering requirements formulated within the Safe and Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework by the EU Commission. Furthermore, TripleS continues to comply with the Portfolio Sustainability Assessment (PSA) method of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development which is applied broadly within the chemical industry.
