Jordan Keller: transforming passion into action

Growing up outside Dallas, Texas, Jordan learned to recycle and care for the world around her from a young age. She harnessed her love of science, sustainability and problem-solving into a career that could make an impact. Learn more about Jordan’s story below.

Were you always interested in science?

I always enjoyed school and math was definitely my favorite subject. I started to develop an interest in science when I took some chemistry classes in middle school. Admittedly, I'm not great at physics, but I thought chemistry was pretty cool.

Honestly, I never knew what I wanted to be when I was growing up, but I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world. I remember seeing something about how engineers could change the world, developing new technologies and solutions, with problem-solving skills that could make an impact. Math and chemistry were always interesting to me, but seeing that I could apply them in a way that could make such a difference and help other people, that's when I decided to study chemical engineering.

Where did your passion for sustainability come from?

I think it started off at a young age. I never really knew that sustainability was a direction that I wanted to pursue, but I always cared. Growing up, my parents instilled in us the importance of being grateful for what you have and not being wasteful. At home, we started each dinner by sharing one thing we were grateful for (which we still do to this day!) and we did not waste food. If you put it on your plate, you ate it. Not everybody has access to food, so if you have it, be grateful. And don't take more than you can consume.

My parents would also check my brother’s and my trash bins during trash days. If there was anything in there that was supposed to be recycled, we had to pay them $2. We would get an allowance each week; it was only a few dollars, but you could lose that very easily if you put the wrong things in the trash. To this day, it physically pains me to throw recyclable or compostable items in the trash!

On a more personal level, two key things really impacted my own personal sustainability journey, and they are both linked to BASF. At a site safety day in the Houston office, there was one activity where you had to guess how long it would take certain things to degrade in the landfill, like aluminum cans and plastic water bottles. We all know that those are supposed to be recycled, but the one that struck me the most was a cleaning wipe, which took over a hundred years to degrade. As a notorious cleaner, I used a LOT of those wipes and always maintained a fully stocked inventory. After that Safety Day event, I decided to make a change, and it completely transformed my own personal lifestyle. From then on, anytime I was looking to purchase a new product, I thought about how I could dispose of it responsibly, keep it in the loop, and if there was a more sustainable alternative.

Another big moment for me was the “personal carbon footprint” calculator BASF sent to its employees about five years ago. It asked how many servings of fruit and vegetables you ate every week and how many servings of meat and cheese, which I thought was strange. At the time, I was eating meat and cheese pretty much every meal. I loved it, not thinking twice about it. I saw the results and was absolutely shocked. All this time, there was something that I could have done, a different choice I could have made, that would've had a significantly lower impact on the planet and was entirely within my control, but I was completely unaware.

I remember coming home that night and sharing the calculator with my then fiancé, now husband, who is also a chemical engineer. We saw the results and decided to start making small changes. We began slowly by cutting out meat at least one day a week. Eventually, we moved to a few times a week. After a year, we became completely vegan, and have been for the last four years. Neither one of us set out to be vegan. We just saw the data. Not only is our footprint smaller, but our health has improved and we can better live out our values. Looking back, this was one of the best decisions we have ever made.  

What does the Senior Manager of Biomass Balance Solutions in North America do and what challenges are you facing in your position?

I'm biased, but I think I have the coolest job at BASF! I absolutely love it, it's truly my dream job. In a nutshell, I am working to implement our biomass balance concept in North America. So, essentially, we are replacing fossil carbon with renewable carbon in our value chains. BASF consumes a lot of fossil resources, and we want to change that. It's a great opportunity to create an impact and do good for the planet and for our customers.

In terms of big challenges, one is the acceptance ofmass balance, explaining it not only to our businesses but to our customers and to the external community. It’s a relatively new and complex topic for the chemical industry, but other industries, like agriculture, have been successfully using mass balance for decades. As an avid consumer of chocolate and coffee (my two favorite foods!), I pay close attention to the labels and seek out certifications such as Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance. Did you know they both utilize mass balance?! So it’s a really impactful approach and we are excited to use it to help transform our business.

Also, I think more than anything, it's about the need to create demand. These feedstocks, renewable natural gas, bio-naphtha, etc., come with a price premium that is driven by the biofuels market. So we have to find customers who are committed to sustainability, who want these solutions. And we also have to advocate for a level playing field for use of renewable carbon in the chemical industry. Because if we truly want to make an impact, this can't just be a niche market; we need to use a lot more renewable carbon and keep the fossil in the ground.

What is the hardest part of bringing these ideas into the region and what opportunities do you see?

Anytime you do something different, it's hard. Change is hard. And if we think about BASF and all the different teams that we have and the products that we make, it’s an immense challenge. We've been processing these fossil resources for a long time, that's how we've always operated.  Biomass Balance and ChemCycling are changing that. So not only do the materials we are using need to change, but the systems that we have in place need to adapt. Our business processes and marketing strategies need to adapt. The way that we think needs to adapt. And that's difficult.

But with great challenge comes great opportunity and I believe biomass balance has a huge potential to drive the transformation. Biomass balance (BMB) products come with a reduced product carbon footprint and are drop-in solutions for customers, making them easy to implement and scalable.  The more BMB products we sell, the more renewable carbon we consume, the more CO2 we save, and the more fossil we keep in the ground! If the biggest chemical company in the world can do this at scale, imagine what kind of impact that will have on the industry as well as on the planet.  

I’m confident we can make this happen in North America. We have an awesome team of people who are so invested in driving change, and they're working with their businesses to educate them, spread the message, help to understand which customers might benefit from this, how can we create solutions for these customers, and build up demand. And it's growing. It's a difficult challenge, but we're doing it. And we’re making an impact.