COP26 Voices

Darren Budd, Commercial Director, UK & Ireland

My journey to sustainability
I started with BASF 25 years ago as a Technical Sales Representative and spent my first six years supporting and developing new business with customers. I was very fortunate to then be offered an opportunity to move to Germany and work for a newly-formed business, BASF Venture Capital, where we focused on ‘early stage’ companies that could bring new technologies and opportunities to BASF. My time there proved to be truly inspirational and stoked my passion for innovation and collaboration. After 5 years I moved back to the UK and have since enjoyed three different roles: Business Manager - Care Chemicals; Head of BTC UK; BASF’s in-house distributor and Commercial Director, BASF UK & Ireland.

Today, as Commercial Director, my focus on our customers is as strong as ever and I am eager to help our customers along their sustainability journey. We are supporting our customers in developing their businesses and bringing new products, ideas and innovation. By informing them about BASF’s strategic direction and introducing concepts like Triple S (Sustainable Solution Steering), Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) and Mass Balance we hope to drive the sustainability conversation with our customers and look to introduce our new Accelerator products to them. Our customers make the products that consumers buy so it is important that we supply them with the right information to allow them to develop products that help everyone along the supply chain achieve their sustainability goals.

Our commitment
Climate protection and the sustainability journey has both a personal and a business element. Understanding BASF’s commitment towards Net Zero and what that means is crucial to know what impact the colleagues can have. We run Carbon Literacy courses for our team which gives them an overview of the impact that they can have on Climate Change (business and personal). We also offer training and support on all of BASF’s sustainability platforms. By promoting BASF’s Accelerator products, our colleagues can support the development of new sustainable solutions. BASF and our technologies are part of the solution