Carbon footprint:
We care about reducing our carbon footprint
But how much greenhouse gas emissions are associated with a single product along its life cycle? A Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) sums up the total greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product over the different stages of its life cycle. For example, a cradle-to-gate (partial) PCF considers all the processes from extraction of resources through manufacturing of precursors and the making of the final product itself up to the point where it leaves the company gate.
The global scientifically community agrees: greenhouse gas emissions and particularly CO2 are the main drivers of climate change. For this reason, BASF is continuously working to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is clearly reflected in all of our sustainability measures, like shifting from fossil resources to renewable feedstocks or supporting sustainable farming practices to reduce deforestation, or innovation that enables energy saving and emission reduction.
To answer this need, BASF has developed a digital application to calculate the cradle-to-gate PCFs for its 45,000 sales products. The product Carbon Footprint (PCF) realistically measures the cradle-to-gate greenhouse gas emissions for BASF’s sales products.
Concepts for Product Carbon Footprint reduction
We offer various ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our products by means of substituting conventional feedstocks with sustainable feedstock in a mass balance approach. The resulting BASF sales products from all these approaches have the same properties as products based on the conventional raw materials – but with a lower carbon footprint.
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
Our RSPO certified products come with a lower PCF because certified sustainable production of palm kernel oil shows a lower global warming impact compared to the non-certified production.
BASF is an active member of the multi-stakeholder initiative Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil from the very beginning in 2004. A significant share of our products is based on renewable raw materials, of which a substantial ratio is palm oil based. We are one of the major users of palm kernel oil and its derivatives and to a lesser extent palm oil. We process those products among others into ingredients for personal care applications. BASF offers a very broad range of ingredients based on RSPO-certified sustainable palm kernel oil in accordance with its principles and criteria. Since launching certified ingredients in 2012, BASF has been continuously moving toward a comprehensive global product range.
Another example is BASF's biomass balance approach, in which fossil resources are replaced by renewable raw materials from organic waste and vegetable oils in the production Verbund and mathematically allocated to the sales product.
BASF’s biomass balance approach
BASF's biomass balance approach contributes to the use of renewable raw materials in BASF's integrated production system and can be applied to the majority of BASF's product portfolio.
With the ChemCycling™ project BASF creates products that are manufactured using chemically recycled plastic waste at the start of production.
ChemCycling™
In this project on chemical recycling, we are working with partners to further develop the pyrolysis technology which turns plastic waste into a secondary raw material called pyrolysis oil.
The BASF sales products from all these mass balance approaches have the same properties as products based on the conventional raw materials – but with a lower carbon footprint.
Product Carbon Footprint
How much greenhouse gas emissions are associated with a product along its life cycle? This question has become increasingly important over the past years and a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) can help to find answers.
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