Joint News Release

London, United Kingdom / Ludwigshafen, Germany, May 9, 2016 – BASF has today become an official Regional Partner of the World Green Building Council’s Europe Regional Network. The Network represents a community of 25 Green Building Councils (GBCs) and over 5,000 company members who cooperate closely to support growth of the sustainable building movement in Europe, including policy dialogue and support of sustainable construction activities.

“With this cooperation we are strengthening our position within the construction industry as the partner for sustainable construction solutions,” says Quentin de Hults, Manager Advocacy and Sustainability at BASF’s European Construction Competence Center. “Sustainability plays a major role on all corporate levels of BASF and is an essential part of our ‘We create chemistry’ strategy.”

Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council, underlines: "Our regional partners have been absolutely critical in strengthening the network of GBCs in Europe. As we grow stronger collectively, our ability to develop the green building market for the benefit of all our members grows too. BASF's support of the green building movement as a member of national GBCs has been evident for many years, and we are excited they are now taking a strategic leadership role as one of our partners at the regional level.”

Green building makes an important contribution to sustainable growth on a national, regional and a global scale. Green buildings offer a range of economic benefits, including job creation and reduced business operating costs. Social benefits include improved health and well-being of occupants, and environmental benefits include lower greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

Sustainability in construction covers the entire value chain from raw materials to construction products, to the operation of buildings and housing over their entire life cycle. GBCs are successfully engaging with stakeholders along this value chain. As a supplier of products, solutions and expertise, BASF is already engaged in several local GBCs, such as the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB).

A number of GBCs are also applying and promoting rating tools that allow an assessment of the sustainability of construction and buildings. Such evidence-based assessments are crucial to increase market demand and innovation for more sustainable construction. BASF not only supplies innovative sustainable construction solutions, it has also incorporated sustainability in its own guidelines for Corporate Real Estate Management. It commits to exceeding legal requirements for new construction by meeting the recognized green building rating tool standards, as promoted by the GBCs.

BASF building products used on new office building
One example of BASF applying to high standards of sustainable construction is the recently opened office building D105 at BASF’s main site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The building has a total area of around 35,000 m² over seven floors and offers work stations for about 1,300 staff. A large number of BASF products were used in constructing the new building. The shell of the building is based on the Green Sense Concrete technology for resource-saving production and processing of concrete. The flat roofs of building D105 are covered with insulating material made of Neopor^®, for which BASF produces the raw material. The low thermal conductivity meets the high energy requirements of the building, reduces carbon emissions and lowers costs.

The insulation of floor panels and perimeter of the new building D105 are made of Styrodur^®. This extruded rigid polystyrene foam (XPS) makes a significant contribution to reducting in carbon emissions thanks to its optimal thermal insulation. Two elements of the external facade were insulated with SLENTEX^®. This high-performance insulation material is easy to process, non-flammable, made of inorganic aerogel and provides highly efficient thermal insulation. This micro-encapsulated phase-change material Micronal^® PCM from BASF was used in the meeting rooms. The latent heat storage system supplements the active cooling ceilings with its thermal buffer storage function.

In plant and break rooms, corridors and sanitary facilities the durable MasterTop flooring systems were installed. The floors are low-emission and contribute to a healthy indoor climate. Ucrete polyurethane concrete was used to cover floor areas subject to heavy wear such as storage rooms and the kitchen. Ucrete is an extremely durable flooring system with joints held to a minimum.

BASF is seeking a platinum-standard certification of its new D105 office building from the DGNB. This designation requires compliance with high standards in construction, use and dismantling. The DGNB system looks at all the key aspects of sustainable building over the entire life cycle of a building, taking a number of factors into account, including ecology, economy and technology.

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than €70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information at www.basf.com.

About World GBC and the Europe Regional Network
The World Green Building Council is a global member network of Green Building Councils in 75 countries enabling green building and sustainable communities through leadership and market transformation. The Europe Regional Network (ERN) is a community of 25 Green Building Councils, six Regional Partners, and over 5,000 company members across Europe, which represent the full breadth of stakeholders in the buildings industry. Our Regional Partners are BASF, E.ON, Knauf Insulation, Saint-Gobain, Skanska and UTC.

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