Sustainability at BASF

The Verbund site in Antwerp is the largest chemical site in Belgium and BASF's second largest. It wants to convert its electricity consumption to green power and thus avoid one million tons of CO₂ per year. The Hollandse Kust Zuid offshore wind farm in the North Sea near the Dutch coast, half of which is owned by BASF, will help us achieve this. Our goal: Antwerp is to be the first petrochemical site ever to achieve net zero emissions, also thanks to new, energy-efficient technologies. We are therefore part of an industrial CCS project (Carbon Capture and Storage) at the Antwerp site. With the Kairos@C project, in cooperation with Air Liquide, BASF can avoid the emission of up to 1 million metric tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere every year from production.

Freeport is one of two Verbund sites in North America and was founded as the first BASF manufacturing site outside of Europe. The Freeport site is on its way to become the first Verbund site in the region to meet its entire imported electricity demand with energy from renewable sources. This is supported through various power purchase agreements for solar energy, that are ramping up through the end of 2026. One example of this is the twelve-year power purchase agreement with the solar energy project developer X-ELIO for the supply of 48 megawatts of solar power per year for Freeport. This project alone will further reduce CO₂ emissions at the Freeport site and avoid more than 82,000 tons of CO₂ annually*, which is equivalent to the annual CO₂ emissions of 17,800 cars.

*Source: EPA GHG Equivalencies Calculator

The Guaratinguetá site in the São Paulo region of Brazil is committed to improve industrial waste management. The "Management of Waste and Recovery Cycle" (MAWERYC) program either avoids waste altogether or uses more sustainable technologies for different waste streams, thereby strengthening the circular economy. Since its introduction in 2020, the program has saved 3450 tons of CO₂ and 2200 tons of waste per year. The site is also continuously improving its energy efficiency. The "Triple E Program", which stands for "Excellence in Energy Efficiency", has been running since 2015 and can save 9000 tons of CO₂ at the site with its 115 approved initiatives. Due to its success, the program has already been implemented at approximately 65% of the sites in South America.