BASF progressing well with global goals for environment, health and safety
- 58% fewer work-related accidents
- Greenhouse gas emissions per metric ton of sales product reduced by 34%
Ludwigshafen, Germany – February 28, 2014 – BASF increased its energy efficiency by 20% compared with baseline 2002 and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions per metric ton of sales product by 34%. The number of work-related accidents dropped in the same period by 58%.
BASF has set itself long term global goals in environment, health and safety for the year 2020: The number of work-related accidents is to decline by 80% compared to 2002. BASF achieved minus 58% in 2013. “This is an excellent result. However: We need to continue to follow our policy, ‘We never compromise on safety’. This is how we can achieve our goal and cut the current number of accidents in half again,” said Dr. Ulrich von Deessen, President of BASF’s Environment, Health and Safety Competence Center and Climate Protection Officer. Therefore, the company is promoting the further trainings of the employees. For the second time, the global safety days are taking place in March 2014 including more than 500 presentations, tutorials and workshops worldwide.
BASF also plans to improve its health management in order to promote the health and productivity of the employees. In 2013, about 48,000 global health checks were conducted.
Progress with global goals for the environment
BASF aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% per metric ton of sales product compared with baseline 2002 and to increase energy efficiency (excluding Oil & Gas) by 35%. The company raised its energy efficiency by 20% compared to the baseline 2002 (2012: 22%) and lowered the specific greenhouse gas emissions by 34% (2012: 33%). “To supply our production sites with energy, we rely on combined heat and power plants with gas and steam turbines and we use the heat released by production processes. Our chemical plants operate at above-average efficiency. Altogether we are heading in the right direction with climate protection. Since we have already achieved a high level, additional large improvements are difficult to realize,” von Deessen explained.
In 2013, the total emissions of air pollutants were reduced to 32,385 metric tons (2012: 30,581 metric tons) compared to 2002. This corresponds to a decline of 62%.
BASF decreased also the emissions to water of organic substances, heavy metals and nitrogen: organic substances sank by 79% (2012: 77%), nitrogen by 87% (2012: 87%) and heavy metals by 64% (2012: 57%) compared to 2002. The European Water Stewardship (EWS), a voluntary industrial standard set by the European Water Partnership, has been introduced at nearly all European sites of BASF in water stress areas.
Note to editors
Further details about the goals and current figures can be found in the BASF Report 2013.
About BASF
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of about €74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
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