BASF Sets Goals to Achieve Climate Neutrality by 2050

BASF has set more ambitious goals on its journey to climate neutrality and wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Based on the most recent progress in developing low-emission and CO₂-free technologies, the company is also significantly raising its medium-term 2030 target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

CO₂-free Processes for Production

The company now wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by 25 percent compared with 2018 – and to achieve this despite targeted growth and the construction of a large Verbund site in South China. Excluding the effects of the planned growth, this means cutting CO₂ emissions in half in the current business by the end of this decade. Overall, BASF plans to invest up to 1 billion euros by 2025 to reach its new climate target and a further 2 billion to 3 billion euros by 2030.

In 2018, BASF Group’s worldwide emissions amounted to 21.9 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalents. In 1990, this figure was roughly twice as high. The new 2030 emissions goal represents a reduction of approximately 60 percent compared to 1990 levels, which exceeds the European Union’s target of minus 55 percent.

“We will accelerate the development and deployment of new CO₂-free processes for the production of chemicals. With transparency and offerings to systematically and incrementally reduce the carbon footprint of BASF products throughout the entire value chain, we help our customers in all industries to reduce the carbon footprint of their own products,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE.

New Technologies to Replace Fossil Fuels

At the heart of the long-term transition toward net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050 is the use of new technologies, which will replace fossil fuels, such as natural gas with electricity from renewable sources. Most of these technologies are being pioneered by BASF in collaboration with partners and are currently in a pilot stage. Broad scaleup of these technologies will only be fully realizable after 2030. In order to accelerate the avoidance of CO₂ emissions prior to that date, BASF also continues to systematically implement continuous improvement processes for existing production plants. In addition, BASF will progressively switch to renewable sources to meet its electricity needs and intends to invest in wind parks to facilitate this.

One of the most important new technologies that BASF is currently developing are electrically heated steam crackers for the production of basic chemicals, such as ethylene, propylene and butadiene. These chemicals are building blocks for numerous value chains and are essential for chemical production. Hydrogen is another important feedstock for many chemical production processes.

New Process Technology to Increase Efficiency

To achieve CO₂-free production of hydrogen, BASF is pursuing two processes in parallel: the commercially available water electrolysis and methane pyrolysis, for which BASF has developed a new process technology. Another important lever to increase energy efficiency is the use of electrical heat pumps to produce CO₂-free steam from waste heat. BASF’s goal is to work with Siemens Energy to gradually ramp up this technology to industrial scale and use it for waste heat recovery at entire sites.

BASF expects that this switch to climate-neutral production processes will lead to a sharp increase in electricity demand at the group’s major sites, including the largest production site in Ludwigshafen, in the coming decade. From around 2035, the group’s electricity demand is expected to be more than three times higher than it is today.

“This will require investments for the development and construction of new production plants. A precondition for the transformation of chemical production is the reliable availability of large quantities of renewable electricity at competitive prices. At the moment, that is not the case in Germany. BASF therefore aims to participate in investments in renewable energy generation facilities to meet its own demand. Regulatory framework conditions are also essential for making this transformation economically feasible,” added Brudermüller.

Source: BASF