article details

Help Center

Basf reaffirmed its ambitious climate protection goals and measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its products

Industry News > Basf reaffirmed its ambitious climate protection goals and measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its products

Basf recently reaffirmed its ambitious climate protection goals after its first statement a year ago. In an update to its climate neutrality roadmap shared with investors and financial analysts, BASF confirmed a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2018, and a goal of achieving global net zero emissions by 2050. As part of its plan to reduce global carbon emissions to 16.4m tonnes by 2030, BASF is publishing an annual co2 emissions forecast with a margin of error of around 500,000 tonnes.

"Europe is facing a brutal war with profound human and economic consequences," said Dr. Martin Brudermuller, chairman of the executive board of BASF Europe. But at the same time, we must not lose sight of the greatest global challenge of our time: climate change. Basf is currently engaged in a number of projects to further significantly reduce co2 emissions and meet our ambitious climate goals. Working with raw material suppliers, we are also taking steps to reduce the carbon emissions associated with our products. In this way, we are driving the transition and supporting customers to reduce carbon emissions in their product portfolio."

Renewable energy as the main driver of emissions reduction

Despite the big increase in production in 2021, BASF's carbon dioxide emissions are about 3% lower than in 2020, largely because of increased use of renewable energy. The use of renewable power will be the main driver of BASF's efforts to reduce emissions until 2025. In 2021, renewables will account for 16% of BASF's global electricity demand. The company expects 100 percent of its global electricity demand in 2021 to come from renewable sources by 2030.

To meet its demand for renewable energy, BASF is making home-and-purchase decisions, including investing in its own renewable energy assets and buying renewable power from third parties. Basf acquired a stake in Vattenfall's HollandseKust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm in 2021. Once fully operational, it will be the largest offshore wind farm in the world, with a total installed capacity of 1.5 gw. The project is expected to be fully operational by 2023. In addition, BASF has signed a 25-year European Renewable Energy Purchase Agreement (PPA) with ENGIE and ø Rsted to supply a significant amount of renewable energy from wind and solar in Europe. In the United States, BASF has signed long-term wind and solar supply contracts for its Freeport and Pasadena production sites. In China, BASF has signed agreements with suppliers to procure renewable power for its new integrated base in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.

In an updated statement with investors, BASF outlined the initiatives it is implementing in various locations to meet its corporate climate goals. These measures depend to a large extent on the specific local conditions of each base.

Ludwigshafen: Development of new technologies and implementation of new steam supply concepts

Currently, about 50 percent of the ludwigshafen site's steam demand comes from the steam production process, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide, and a new method uses electricity to produce steam. Basf is working with Siemens Energy on its first project at a polyethylene plant, using heat pumps and water steam recompression to lift waste heat to generate steam power to supply the steam network throughout the site. The integration of the heat pump project not only produces about 60 tons of steam per hour, but also avoids about 160,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year and reduces cooling water consumption by more than 20 million cubic meters. The technology is scheduled to be deployed in the second quarter of 2024, and day-to-day operational experience will be gained through the project to simplify future roll-out at other sites.

Another project under way at the Ludwigshafen site is the development of an electrically heated steam cracking furnace. Currently, cracking furnaces produce about 1 ton of carbon dioxide per ton of olefins heated by gas. Basf has signed an agreement with Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) and Linde group to develop and test electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. The three parties are evaluating the construction of a multi-megawatt demonstration plant at the Ludwigshafen base, which could start as soon as 2023 once the necessary funding is approved. Basf is also developing zero-carbon hydrogen production from methane pyrolysis.

Antwerp: hopes to become the first integrated base to achieve net zero emissions by 2030

Basf Antwerp integrated base is the largest chemical production base in Belgium and the second largest basF integrated base in the world after Ludwigshafen.

Basf wants to reduce co2 emissions from the integrated base from 3.8 million tonnes in 2021 to nearly net zero by 2030. This could be achieved through imported renewable power from offshore wind farms, combined with the deployment of new low-emission technologies and a large-scale "Carbon Capture and Storage", or CCS, project planned for the port of Antwerp. If achieved, Antwerp will be the first petrochemical production site to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. Given the tight timeframe, these measures will face simultaneous challenges and will require political support to establish the right framework conditions.

Zhanjiang: It has been planned as a leader in sustainable development since its inception

Zhanjiang will become basF's third integrated base in the world. Zhanjiang's advanced integrated concepts and use of renewable energy have played an important role in helping it significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions compared to its petrochemical base, which is powered by natural gas production. The key, then, is to replace fossil fuels with renewable electricity.

Basf recently signed a 25-year renewable energy Cooperation framework agreement with China State Power Investment Corporation to procure renewable energy power for the follow-up installation of its new integrated base in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, in accordance with guangdong Province's renewable energy Trading rules. The agreement is the largest and longest renewable electricity purchase framework agreement ever signed in China. With the support of this deal and other related partnerships, BASF will further accelerate the process of renewable power supply, with the goal of providing 100 percent of the zhanjiang integrated base with renewable energy by 2025 -- earlier than originally planned. Basf will become a leader in the use of renewable energy for China's manufacturing industries.

Schwartzhead: A paradigm of energy transformation for medium-sized production bases

In February 2022, BASF Schwarzhead Ltd. formed a joint venture with enviaM to build a solar park that is expected to generate 25 GW of electricity a year, providing approximately 10% of the site's current annual electricity needs. This will be BASF's first directly involved large-scale solar power plant, providing solar power for the schwarzhead site to produce battery materials for electric vehicles from the end of 2022. At present, the base's own gas and steam turbine hybrid power station has been largely modernized. Once the plant opens in late 2022, its higher fuel efficiency will increase electricity generation by 10% and reduce CO2 emissions by 16%.

Next steps: BASF is ready to offer its first products with net zero emissions and minimal carbon footprint.

Mr Brudermuller said: "BASF is making significant progress towards meeting its emissions reduction targets. And we are ready for the next step -- sustainable growth through products that minimize our carbon footprint." Through the use of renewable energy electricity, low carbon steam, bio-based feedstock and efficient processes, BASF is able to provide customers with products with net zero emissions and minimal carbon footprint (PCF). The company expects demand for such products to outstrip supply in the medium term and its market value to exceed its higher production costs. Basf believes that end consumers will drive the shift to net zero emissions and minimum carbon footprint consumption because of their increasing demand for alternatives to traditional consumer products and their desire to personally contribute to reducing emissions. Basf therefore aims to be one of the first companies to offer a large number of products that minimize as many carbon footprints as possible.

Many BASF customers are equally keen to reduce the carbon footprint of their products in order to meet their own emissions targets. It also puts new demands on the transparency of carbon footprint calculations. To that end, BASF has developed an in-house digital solution that can calculate the carbon footprint of some 45,000 products it sells. Using this tool, BASF currently has to base its emissions from upstream Scope 3 on industrial averages and commercial databases. To improve transparency about Scope 3 emissions, BASF is working closely with suppliers to improve data on raw materials purchased from them. Basf supports suppliers by sharing knowledge in assessment and calculation methods and in this way contributes to the standardisation of carbon footprint calculations.

A structural approach to capital expenditure

Between 2021 and 2025, BASF still expects to require nearly 1 billion euros in capital expenditure to develop and roll out low-carbon technologies in pilot installations. This amount is already included in BASF's capital expenditure budget. Public funding for some projects has already been approved, while funding for others is expected to be decided soon. Capex is expected to increase to about €2bn - €3bn over a five-year period from 2026 to 2030. During this period, BASF plans to scale up the first batch of new carbon management technologies and accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Thereafter, more investment is expected to be made to build world-class production bases using new technologies and to further expand the use of renewable energy after 2030.

previous：Dow is expanding its global production capacity, driven by strong demand in the transportation market next：Wanhua Chemical special copolymer polycarbonate project was put into operation smoothly

Basf reaffirmed its ambitious climate protection goals and measures to reduce the carbon footprint of its products

Return & Exchange

Fast Delivery

Member Discount