BASF's New Strategy Targets Both Profitable and Carbon-Neutral Growth

At a presentation held in Ludwigshafen, Dr. Martin Brudermüller stated his views on the subject as follows: "With our new strategy, we are putting BASF on a growth path," he said. The Chief Executive Officer also spoke of positive developments in previous years: "Since 2012, our operating income before depreciation and special items has grown by approximately 8% annually. This rate exceeds the annual 3% increase in fixed costs. For this reason, BASF's earnings growth has outpaced the global chemical production growth rate of 3.7% annually. Moreover, in recent years there has been strong development in free cash flow, and return on capital employed (ROCE) was realized at a high rate of 15.4%. The new strategy aims at sales and volume growth." To grow faster, BASF will focus strongly on its customers and develop customized products for them. To be quick and flexible, structures and processes will be simplified, while the portfolio will develop and Verbund will be strengthened. The Asian market in particular holds an important share in the company's growth strategy. China, with over 40% market share globally, is the largest chemical product market and thus drives chemical production growth. Brudermüller: "BASF commits to keeping greenhouse gas emissions at 2018 levels by 2030. This means we will decouple our greenhouse gas emissions from organic growth," he said. Among our targets are planned major investments such as a new Verbund facility in Guangdong in southern China. BASF will improve the management, efficiency and integration of its factories and, where possible, will purchase a large portion of its electricity from renewable energy sources. In addition to its carbon-neutral growth target by 2030, BASF wants to achieve sales of approximately EUR 22 billion with Accelerator products by 2025. These are products that provide significant sustainability contribution in the value chain.

BASF and Digitalization

As of 2022, BASF aims to digitalize processes in more than 350 factories worldwide. Thus, digitalization will become an integral part of BASF's business. Through digitalization, BASF will create additional value for its customers as well as expand its business and increase efficiency.