BASF’s Monomers division has announced an ambitious sustainability roadmap: It will expand its portfolio of products with a lower CO2 footprint and is committed to providing a circular option in every major product line by 2025. At the same time, the division will continue to prioritise technical optimisation measures to cut CO2 emissions from operations.
“As a commodity business at the heart of chemical production, we have the potential to significantly drive the sustainable transformation of both BASF and the various customer industries we serve,” said Dr. Ramkumar Dhruva, President, Monomers division at BASF.
The Monomers division supplies key industries from food packaging, textiles, automotive or construction to wood binders and many others with base chemicals. The new divisional sustainability roadmap is an essential part of BASF’s journey towards climate neutrality and net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
“We understand sustainability as the decisive factor for future business success and are committed to providing our customers with the right solutions to help them reach their individual sustainability goals,” said Dhruva.
Net zero greenhouse gas emission targets demand a new level of carbon transparency. The product carbon footprint (PCF) is therefore becoming a differentiating factor, even for commoditised products. BASF’s Monomers division is pioneering a certified low-PCF option in all of its product lines by applying the company’s mass balance approach.
Examples are Lupranat ZERO, an MDI based on attributed renewable raw materials that has a PCF of zero, and Ultramid Ccycled, an innovative material for the textile industry for which chemically recycled feedstock from end-of-life tires is used in production and attributed via a certified mass balance approach. The division has major sites and more than 200 products already RedCert2 or ISCC+ certified today. It aims to have additional sites certified in all regions by the end of 2023 and will continue to expand its portfolio of certified mass balanced products for its customers worldwide.
The BASF Monomers division supplies a broad portfolio of large-volume monomers, basic polymers and inorganic chemicals. Major products include MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate), TDI (toluene diisocyanate), propylene oxide, caprolactam, adipic acid, hexamethylenediamine, ammonia, polyamide 6 and 6.6, nitric acid, sulfur and chlorine products, inorganic salts, urea, melamine, glues and impregnating resins. The products are used in a broad spectrum of industries, such as the automotive, furniture, construction, woodworking, food, feed, solar, packaging and textile industries.