BASF Presents New Roadmap for Climate Neutrality by 2050

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] BASF, progressing on its journey toward climate neutrality, has set a new goal to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

On the 23rd, BASF announced that it has significantly raised its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets based on low-emission and carbon-neutral technologies, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2018. This target will be pursued while continuing the previously set business growth goals and the construction of a large Verbund site in southern China. Going forward, BASF plans to invest up to 1 billion euros by 2025 and an additional 2 to 3 billion euros by 2030 to achieve the new climate neutrality goals.

In 2018, the BASF Group’s global carbon dioxide emissions were 21.9 million metric tons, which is about half compared to 1990. The new target is to reduce emissions by approximately 60% by 2030 compared to 1990, surpassing the European Union’s target of a 55% reduction.

The core of the long-term plan to achieve Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 is to replace fossil fuels such as natural gas with electricity generated from renewable energy sources through new technologies. This technology is expected to be fully realized after 2030. Additionally, BASF plans to meet electricity demand through a gradual transition to renewable resources and will invest in wind farms to promote this.

One of the most important new technologies BASF is developing is an electrically heated steam cracker for the production of basic chemicals such as ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. These chemicals are components of numerous value chains and essential for chemical product manufacturing. Hydrogen is another key raw material in many chemical production processes. To produce hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions, BASF is simultaneously advancing two processes: water electrolysis and methane pyrolysis, for which it has developed new process technologies. Another important means to improve energy efficiency is producing steam without carbon dioxide emissions from waste heat using electric heat pumps. BASF aims to gradually scale up this technology to an industrial level in cooperation with Siemens Energy and use it for waste heat recovery across all sites.

BASF expects that within the next decade, this transition to climate-neutral production processes will sharply increase electricity demand at major plants, including its largest production site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. From around 2035, BASF’s electricity demand is predicted to increase more than threefold compared to current levels.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.