Corporate Strategy

At BASF, we are passionate about chemistry and our customers. We want to be the world’s leading chemical company for our customers, 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 for the better. This is our goal. This is what drives us and what we do best: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.

Our corporate purpose

We create chemistry for a sustainable future

The world is facing major challenges. Climate change is advancing, the world’s population is growing and so is its need for food. More and more people live in cities and the demand for individual mobility is rising. At the same time, natural resources are limited. More than ever before, we need solutions that make sustainable growth possible. Chemistry plays a key role here. It can help to overcome global challenges in almost all areas of life. By combining our expertise with our customers’ competence, we can together develop sustainable and profitable solutions.

Our innovations, products and technologies help to use natural resources more efficiently, produce enough food for everyone, reduce emissions, enable climate-smart mobility, improve the capabilities of renewable energy, and make buildings more energy efficient, among other things. Our purpose reflects what we do and why we do it: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.

Global trends provide opportunities for growth in the chemical industry

Population growth:

Driven by the emerging markets

+25%
2020 to 2050

Digitalization:

Rapid growth in volume of data

456
zettabytes in 2030

China the largest market:

Share of global chemical market

~50%
by 2030

Climate change:

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

–70%
by 2050
(baseline 1990)

Circular economy:

Non-recycled plastic waste worldwide

~200
million metric tons per year

Electromobility:

Growing demand for battery materials until 2030

~25%
per year

Sources: U.N., IEA, Conversio, UBS Foresight, BASF

We want to continue to grow profitably and make a positive contribution to society and the environment. We see disruptive changes in the chemical industry – like the advance of digitalization, the development of circular economy models or the transformation to climate-neutral production – as an opportunity. We have set ourselves ambitious targets along the entire value chain. Our customers and their needs are at the core of our strategy. We want to maintain our leading position in an increasingly competitive environment. To achieve this, we are accelerating our innovation processes and deepening cooperation with our customers. We are systematically aligning our portfolio with growth areas and integrating sustainability into our value chains even more strongly. Our Verbund structure is the basis for efficient, safe and reliable production both now and in the future. We leverage digital technologies to continuously improve processes and customer relationships, for example. We create a working environment that best enables our employees to contribute to BASF’s success.