BASF goes beyond carbon neutral
The chemical industry does not have the best reputation in terms of its environmentally-friendly image, but that could change very soon thanks to German chemical company BASF, which has gone beyond being carbon neutral.
Claiming to be the world’s first company to present a comprehensive carbon balance for its operations, BASF has reported that its products actually save three times more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire amount caused by the production and disposal of its products. These figures have also been confirmed by an independent third party, the Öko-Institut in Freiburg, Germany.
“The results of the study are clear: The enormous potential savings that can be achieved by using innovative technologies and products from BASF are ignored if one looks solely at the emissions from our production sites,” said Dr. Harald Schwager, member of the board. “In areas such as construction, automobiles and industrial production, our products help our customers to save more than 250 million metric tons of CO2 worldwide. This is three times as much as is emitted through the production and disposal of all our products. We want to maintain or even improve this factor through new products and innovations and by continuing to reduce our own emissions.”
