Corporate Strategy

At BASF, we are passionate about chemistry and our customers. To be the world’s leading chemical company for our customers, we will grow profitably and create value for society. Thanks to our expertise, our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, and the power of our Verbund integration, we make a decisive contribution to changing the world we live in for the better. This is our goal. This is what drives us and what we do best: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.

Corporate purpose

We create chemistry for a sustainable future

Today, the world is changing more rapidly than ever before, driven by demographic change and new digital technologies. Our customers in different industries and regions face diverse social and environmental challenges due to limited natural resources, climate change and the increasing demands of a growing global population. Chemistry is key to solving many of these challenges. By combining our unique expertise with our customers’ competence, we can jointly develop profitable, innovative and sustainable solutions for these global challenges.

Our purpose reflects what we do and why we do it: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. We want to contribute to a world that provides a viable future with enhanced quality of life for everyone. This is why we offer products and solutions that are designed to make the best use of available resources and help to overcome challenges.

Global trends provide opportunities for growth in the chemical industry

Demographic change:

Share of population aged 60 and over worldwide

+100%
2020 to 2050

Digitalization:

Rapid growth in volume of data

456
zettabytes in 2030

Population growth:

Driven by the emerging markets

+25%
2020 to 2050

Climate change:

Required reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the 2°C goal

–70%
by 2050

China the largest market:

Share of global chemical market

~50%
by 2030

Electromobility:

Growing demand for battery materials until 2030

+20–25%
per year

Sources: UN, IEA, UBS Foresight, BASF

Our aspiration is to be the world’s leading chemical company and achieve profitable growth. We aim to primarily grow organically and thus are strengthening our customer focus. Our growth strategy is based on investment in strategic growth markets and innovation-driven sectors. The Asian market continues to play a key role here. With a share of more than 40%, China is already the world’s largest chemical market and drives the growth of global chemical production. By 2030, China’s share will increase to nearly 50% – and we want to participate in this growth. To further our growth in this dynamic market, we plan to build an integrated Verbund site in Zhanjiang in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. We also want to expand our existing joint venture with Sinopec at the Verbund site in Nanjing.