Sustainability

The acceptance and support of our stakeholders is crucial for our business success. For more than 25 years, we have engaged in continuous dialog with other companies, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and multistakeholder initiatives to better understand different perspectives and address conflicting goals. Our stakeholders’ expectations are taken into account when deciding on the company’s strategic direction, discussing targets and making business decisions, thereby determining the company’s sustainability strategy to a significant extent.

We have been a member of the U.N. Global Compact since its establishment in 2000. BASF consistently supports the Ten Principles of the U.N. Global Compact for responsible business conduct and the Sustainable Development Goals. We are active around the world in local Global Compact networks, in some cases in a leadership role. BASF has been an active member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) since 1999.

We address current and important issues regarding specific topics with councils. The trustful exchange within the Human Rights Advisory Council helps us to appropriately fulfill our roles and responsibilities, particularly in challenging human rights situations. The Nature Advisory Council focuses on exchanging information on topics relating to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems. We discussed the findings from our double materiality assessment with both councils in 2024.

We bear a particular responsibility toward our sites’ neighbors. We promote continuous dialog between residents and our site management and strengthen trust in our activities with community advisory panels. Our globally binding guidelines for community advisory panels are based on the grievance mechanism standards in the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Our political advocacy is conducted in accordance with transparent guidelines and our publicly stated positions. The same applies to our advocacy and activities in associations.

For more information on our stakeholder activities, see basf.com/stakeholder-engagement
For more information on our guidelines for responsible lobbying, see basf.com/responsible-lobbying
For more information on the Climate Advocacy Review, see basf.com/corporategovernance

We carried out a double materiality assessment in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for the first time in 2024. The assessment was performed on the basis of previous double materiality assessments, but with an increased level of granularity and more extensive documentation. As a manufacturing company, the main impacts of our business relate to climate change (mainly due to our energy requirements), other environmental matters (emissions to air, water and biodiversity) and our company’s workforce.

For more information on our double materiality assessment, see BASF Report 2024

As an energy-intensive company, we take responsibility for the efficient use of energy and global climate protection, and are committed to the Paris Agreement. We are determined to follow the path toward climate neutrality and to enable our customers’ green transformation by providing low-emission chemistry.

Climate change poses challenges for us but also offers opportunities for our business activities that enhance the resilience of our business models. For example, our products and solutions contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in many areas.

To achieve our climate protection targets, we have developed a transition plan that shows our emissions reduction path based on the most important levers. We are focusing on the following emission reduction levers to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from our own production and energy purchases (Scope 1 and 2):

• Renewable energy: We are increasingly meeting our electricity needs from renewable sources.
• Operational excellence: Our operational excellence activities are continually improving the energy and process efficiency of our plants.
• Low-emission steam generation: In the future, we will increasingly rely on electrification for steam generation and hence also tap previously unused waste heat potential.
• Climate-smart technologies: We are developing completely new emission-free and low-emission processes, and are assessing and piloting new technologies for more sustainable chemistry.

Despite all our efforts, we expect there to be a residual share of emissions in 2050 that cannot be abated using technical or economic approaches. We are aiming to offset all remaining emissions up to and including 2050 through high-quality, high-credibility nature-based and technical measures.

For more information on climate protection, see basf.com/climate_protection

   

Global targets

Compared with the 2018 base year, we want to achieve a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from our production processes (Scope 1) and our energy purchases (Scope 2) by 20301 – despite our growth plans and the construction of a new Verbund site in southern China. This corresponds to a decrease of around 60% compared with 1990. Our long-term target is to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.¹

In 2024, the BASF Group’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions amounted to 17.0 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalents (2023: 17.0 million metric tons²). The slight rise in demand year on year lifted production volumes and thus resulted in higher CO₂ emissions. At the same time, we increased the share of electricity from renewable sources compared with the previous year to 26%, and, together with measures to increase energy and process efficiency, made a relevant contribution to reducing emissions. All in all, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions in BASF’s operations by 58% since 1990.

We set ourselves an ambitious Scope 3.1 target³ for our specific raw materials-related emissions in 2023. This includes about 92% of our Scope 3.1 emissions based on the base year. By 2030, we want to reduce these in relation to the purchasing volume specifically by 15% from the 2022 base year. In 2024, specific Scope 3.1 emissions amounted to 1.58 kilograms of CO₂ per kilogram of raw material purchased (2023: 1.67).3 The reduction in specific emissions is mainly attributable to a change in the raw materials portfolio. In the long term, we are striving to reduce Scope 3.1 emissions to an unavoidable minimum by 2050, thereby expanding our long-term net-zero target to include these greenhouse gas emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions of BASF Group (Scope 1 and 2)¹

Million metric tons of CO₂ equivalents

1 Scope 1 and Scope 2 (excluding the sale of energy to third parties). The target includes greenhouse gases according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which are converted into CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e).

2 The figure for 2023 has been adjusted to reflect updated data.

3 Scope 3.1, raw materials excluding battery materials, excluding services, technical goods and greenhouse gas emissions from BASF trading businesses.

Renewable energy

Roughly half of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are attributable to our plants’ energy demand. A core component is therefore converting our energy supply from fossil to renewable sources; this applies especially with regard to our electricity supply. In 2024, electricity from renewable sources as a share of total electricity consumption rose further compared with the previous year to 26% (2023: 20%). Our electricity consumption will increase significantly in future due to the planned gradual electrification of our steam generation and the switch from natural gas-based to electricity-based, low-emission production processes. We aim to source more than 60% of our power needs from renewable sources by 2030.

As regards the transformation of our power supply, we are pursuing a make-and-buy approach in the short, medium and long term. Firstly, BASF is investing in its own renewable power assets. Secondly, we are focusing on purchasing green power through long-term supply agreements with plant operators, green power purchase agreements or renewable energy certificates, depending on the region and market regulations. Profitability and additionality are key purchasing criteria. The electricity purchased is primarily sourced from new renewable energy facilities.

In 2024, we successfully advanced the supply of electricity from renewable sources. The Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm, a joint project with Vattenfall and Allianz, was commissioned successively and has been fully operational since the summer of 2024. With 139 turbines and a capacity of 1.5 gigawatts, it is one of the largest subsidy-free offshore wind farms in the world.

In order to fully supply our Verbund site in Zhanjiang in southern China, which is currently under construction, with electricity from renewable sources in the future, we have entered into a joint venture with Mingyang for an offshore wind farm in southern China. This partnership includes development, construction and operation. Since the beginning of 2025, the site in Zhanjiang is being supplied with 100% electricity from renewable sources under a supply agreement with the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). In addition, we have entered into a supply agreement with China Energy Engineering Group Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute (GEDI) to source electricity from renewable sources over a period of 25 years. In 2023 and 2024, we also signed further long-term supply agreements for green power at other sites in Asia.

Climate-smart technologies

To further abate CO₂ emissions, we are also developing completely new technologies for emission-free and low-emission production and are planning to scale them, primarily from 2030 onward. These technologies will need large volumes of electricity from renewable sources in order to realize their full potential. The main focus here is on basic chemicals, which are often still emission-intensive to produce. This is the case with steam crackers, for example, which use large amounts of energy to break down naphtha into olefins and aromatics – both important precursors for numerous chemical value chains. In 2024, together with our partners SABIC and Linde, we commissioned a demonstration plant¹ for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces at our site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Another important basic material in the chemical industry is hydrogen, which we have so far mainly used as a raw material. In March 2025, we started operation of a PEM (proton exchange membrane) water electrolyzer² with a capacity of 54 megawatts at the Ludwigshafen site in Germany, which was constructed with Siemens Energy. Powered by electricity from renewable energy sources, the electolyzer produces up to 8,000 metric tons of emission-free hydrogen and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions at the site by up to 72,000 metric tons per year. BASF will primarily use the hydrogen produced as a raw material for the manufacture of products with a reduced carbon footprint.

Another focus area of our technological development is carbon capture and storage (CCS). Together with our partners, we are examining an industrial CCS project at the Antwerp site in Belgium (Kairos@C) as the first phase of the Antwerp@C project, which could enable BASF to avoid the release of up to 1 million metric tons of production-related CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere every year.

Corporate carbon footprint

BASF has published a comprehensive corporate carbon footprint every year since 2008. This reports on all emissions along the value chain – from raw materials to production and disposal.

For more information on our emissions reporting, see basf.com/corporate_carbon_footprint

CO₂ emissions along the BASF value chain in 2024³

Million metric tons of CO₂ equivalents

Product carbon footprints

To increase transparency surrounding our product-specific greenhouse gas emissions and to implement our carbon reduction measures where they add the greatest value, we use a digital solution to calculate the carbon footprint of more than 40,000 sales products on an ongoing basis. These product carbon footprints (PCFs) include all greenhouse gas emissions – from raw materials extraction to the finished product leaving the factory gates (“cradle-to-gate”). In 2024, we further expanded our portfolio of products with a certified reduced carbon footprint. These include ammonia and urea products and the intermediate butanediol, which our customers use in the manufacture of textile fibers, solvents and engineering plastics.

We make our automated PCF calculation approach available to interested industry players through partnerships. At the same time, we are involved in various initiatives to drive transparency, harmonization and standardization across the industry. This also takes place as part of Together for Sustainability (TfS), where we have been involved in the creation and revision of a uniform guideline for calculating the carbon footprint of products in the chemical industry. This enables the climate impact of products to be directly compared and evaluated based on a standardized approach. A digital solution developed by TfS and Siemens for sharing PCF data between companies was launched in October 2024.

For more information on product carbon footprints, see basf.com/en/pcf

We launched the Supplier CO₂ Management Program in 2021 to achieve transparency with respect to our raw materials-related emissions. The goal is to obtain a more accurate data base and to better manage and reduce emissions in the supply chain. In a first step, we have requested the PCFs of our raw materials since then and support our suppliers in determining these, for example, by sharing our knowledge of assessment and calculation methods with them. Since the start of the program, we have asked more than 1,900 suppliers, accounting for around 80% of our raw materials-related greenhouse gas emissions. After around three years, we have validated PCFs for more than 1,700 of our raw materials. This corresponds to a coverage of almost 30% in relation to the greenhouse gas emissions of our raw materials. We are working to further enhance the transparency of the PCFs for our raw materials.

For more information on the Supplier CO₂ Management Program, see basf.com/suppliers

1 The project has been granted €14.8 million from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under the Decarbonization in Industry funding program. It is also being financed by the European Union via the NextGenerationEU fund.

2 The project is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

3 According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol; Scope 1, 2 and 3; reported categories within Scope 3 are shown in parentheses. Scope 3 emissions in category 10 (“Processing of sold products”) are not reported according to the standard for the chemical sector. Only direct use phase emissions are reported in the customer category (Scope 3.11). Excluding greenhouse gas emissions from BASF trading businesses.

We work continuously to reduce environmental impacts caused by our business activities. This includes preventing or reducing emissions to air and water, which we achieve first and foremost by operating our plants safely and efficiently. We regard health and safety as our highest priorities and are aware of the material potential negative effects for our employees. To that end, the Corporate Center’s Corporate Environmental Protection, Health, Safety & Quality unit sets globally binding standards for occupational safety and health.

We use the rate of High Severity Process Safety Incidents (hsPSI) per 200,000 working hours as a reporting indicator. We have set ourselves the target of reducing High Severity Process Safety Incidents to a rate of no more than 0.10 per 200,000 working hours by 2030¹ (status 2024: 0.03). For occupational safety, we have set ourselves the target of reducing the rate of High Severity Work Process Related Injuries (HSI) to no more than 0.05 HSI per 200,000 working hours by 20301 (status 2024: 0.02).

For more information on process safety, see basf.com/process_safety
For more information on occupational safety, see basf.com/occupational_safety

1 Hours worked by BASF employees, temporary workers and contractors

We see product safety as an integral part of all business processes, as an important element of our risk management and as an essential pillar of our commitment to Responsible Care^®. We continuously work on ensuring that our products pose no risk to people or the environment when they are used responsibly and in the manner intended.

For more information on product safety, see BASF Report 2024

Introducing and implementing sustainable water management has been a cornerstone of our strategy for many years now. Our goal is to introduce sustainable water management at all production sites in water stress areas and at our Verbund sites by 2030, covering around 90% of BASF’s total water abstraction. In 2024, we achieved 65% of our target (2023: 57%2). Sustainable water management was introduced at eight additional sites in 2024 (2023: seven sites). BASF participated in CDP’s water assessment in 2024 and again achieved Leadership status with a rating of A-.

For more information on sustainable water management, see basf.com/water  

As a chemical company, we use valuable natural resources such as water, air and soil. At the same time, our business activities have an impact on these resources through emissions to the environment or the sourcing of renewable raw materials. With our principles for the responsible sourcing of raw materials, we are, among other things, committed to stopping or reversing biodiversity loss within our sphere of influence.

Our business activities interface with nature, and therefore with biodiversity and ecosystems, in three key areas. These are the sourcing of raw materials, operation of production plants and the attributes of our products. In order to better understand and categorize BASF’s impact on nature, we are guided by the five drivers of biodiversity loss defined by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): land-use change, pollution, climate change, overexploitation and invasive species. We do not consider the latter to be relevant for BASF.

We have laid down our expectations with regard to environmental, labor and social standards in the supply chain as well as our commitment to preserving biodiversity in the Supplier Code of Conduct. We are deeply committed to environmental protection and sustainability at our sites. The aim is to minimize the impact of production on people and the environment and to continuously improve. BASF sets stringent standards for the exploration and development of new sites and, among other things, incorporates requirements for environmentally friendly development and the inclusion and protection of nature and ecosystems in accordance with our Responsible Care Management System.

Before our products are launched, they undergo various tests and assessments – depending on legal requirements and their application profile. These tests enable us to identify potential hazard characteristics as well as health and environmental risks at an early stage. Based on these results, we derive precautionary and protective measures and develop recommendations for safe handling. In the area of crop protection, we further follow international standards, such as the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management and the Principles of Integrated Pest Management. We evaluate our products and solutions in crop protection and seeds throughout the entire research, development and registration process for potential risks and impacts to the ecosystems in which they are used. 

For more information on product stewardship for crop protection products and seeds, see BASF Report 2024
 

We actively seek out partnerships with relevant interest groups and organizations worldwide, for example, in the Taskforce on Nature- related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), to expand our knowledge, to raise awareness about biodiversity and to drive necessary actions forward. In 2023, BASF set up an advisory council for issues surrounding the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems – the Nature Advisory Council (NAC) – to receive an independent societal perspective on our activities in relation to nature and biodiversity topics. The aim is to obtain constructive feedback and specific advice on nature-related topics and our strategic approach as well as our contributions to a more sustainable future.

For more information on our Nature Advisory Council, see basf.com/en/nature-advisory-council
 

BASF again participated in the “Forests” assessment conducted by the international organization CDP in 2024 and achieved a score of A-, once more giving us Leadership status. 

For more information on the CDP forests questionnaire, see basf.com/en/cdp

All in all, BASF purchased 30.4 million metric tons of raw materials in 2024. We purchase renewable raw materials in accordance with our principles for sustainable sourcing. Our expectations of our suppliers are laid down in our Supplier Code of Conduct. 

For more information on supplier management, see basf.com/suppliers
 

Fossil and petrochemical resources

BASF’s most important raw materials (based on volume) include natural gas and crude oil-based petrochemical products such as naphtha and benzene. We continuously evaluate whether fossil and petrochemical resources can be replaced with renewable or recycled alternatives.
 

Renewable resources

In 2024, we purchased 1.2 million metric tons of renewable raw materials, mainly based on vegetable oils, fats, grains and sugar. The mass balance approach allows us to allocate the amount of renewable raw materials used to a wide variety of end products.

Palm oil, palm kernel oil and their derivatives are some of our most important renewable raw materials. We mainly use these to produce ingredients for the cosmetics, detergent, cleaner and food industries. We aim to ensure that palm-based raw materials come from certified sustainable sources. We have been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2004. Our Care Chemicals division has published a comprehensive annual Responsible Sourcing Report since 2023. In it, we report on our measures and progress toward more sustainability and transparency in the palm value chain and the value chains for other renewable raw materials. In relation to our impact in connection with the sourcing of renewable raw materials, we set ourselves the target in 2015 of purchasing 100% certified palm oil and palm kernel oil starting 2020. In recent years, we have met this target. Due to insufficient availability of RSPO-certified palm kernel oil, we were unfortunately unable to meet this target in 2024, posting a figure of 98.1% (2023: 100%). 

For more information on our voluntary commitment to palm oil products and the Responsible Sourcing Report, see basf.com/en/palm-dialog

Recycled feedstocks

One of the ways in which we can reduce the use of fossil raw materials is to partially or fully use renewable or recycled feedstocks to manufacture products. This is done by feeding such feedstocks into the production of certain BASF products and attributing them to the end products. To give one example, in chemical recycling, our technology partners use the pyrolysis process to extract pyrolysis oil from used tires or from mixed plastic waste, which is not currently mechanically recycled. As part of ChemCycling^®, we feed the pyrolysis oil into the BASF Verbund at our production sites in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific as a substitute for fossil feedstocks and manufacture Ccycled^® products by applying the mass balance approach.

We have many years of experience and a high degree of specialization in recycling precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium. With the growing market for electric vehicles, there is also an increasing need for recycling of lithium-ion batteries. As a leading producer of battery materials with local production capacities in the three main markets – Asia, Europe and North America – BASF has in-depth expertise in battery chemistry and process technology. We are utilizing these competencies to address battery recycling as an additional growth market in cooperation with partners along the value chain. 

For more information on circular economy, see BASF Report

Mineral raw materials

We have relationships with a large number of suppliers of mineral raw materials, which we use to produce automotive and process catalysts or battery materials for electromobility, among other products. We have implemented the EU’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, for example by carrying out a compliance check for the import of conflict minerals in our ordering system. Furthermore, BASF is committed to responsible and sustainable global supply chains for other mineral raw materials. These include cobalt, a key component in the production of battery materials. Our goal is to not purchase cobalt from artisanal mines as long as responsible labor, social and environmental standards cannot be verified.

We regard the implementation of human rights-related due diligence processes as a comprehensive endeavor that we can only achieve if all employees and leaders work together. That is why we have embedded our responsibility for human rights into our Code of Conduct and set this out in our Policy Statement on Human Rights. We uphold our standards worldwide, including where they exceed local legal guidelines. The head of our legal and compliance organization also acts as Chief Human Rights Officer and oversees the overarching risk management with regard to human rights.

The Human Rights Advisory Council (HRAC), established in 2020, comprises independent international human rights experts and meets regularly, thus enabling us to obtain additional human rights expertise. The trust-based and constructive dialog helps us to better understand different perspectives on human rights, address conflicting aims and take into account the rights of Indigenous peoples and the limits of corporate due diligence.

For more information, see basf.com/humanrights
For more information on the Human Rights Advisory Council, see basf.com/human-rights-council