Our Organizational and Management Structures
We are constantly working to broaden our contributions to key sustainability topics and to reduce the negative impact of our business activities. Together with decentrally organized specialists, the Corporate Strategy & Sustainability unit in the Corporate Center is responsible for integrating sustainability into core business activities and decision-making processes. The unit is also responsible for the global steering of climate-related matters. Since January 2022, the Net Zero Accelerator unit has been driving forward new and existing projects, focusing on further acceleration and implementation to achieve CO2 reduction targets worldwide. Both units report to the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors.
The Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board are regularly briefed on the development of individual sustainability topics. The Board of Executive Directors incorporates the results and recommendations from sustainability evaluations of business processes into its decisions, for example, on proposed investments and acquisitions. It makes decisions with strategic relevance for the Group and monitors the implementation of strategic plans and target achievement. The global climate protection target is linked to the compensation of the entire Board of Executive Directors and senior executives via the most important KPI “absolute CO2 emissions.” The Corporate Sustainability Board, which is composed of heads of business and Corporate Center units and regions, supports the Board of Executive Directors on sustainability topics and discusses operational matters. It is chaired by Board of Executive Directors member Saori Dubourg.
In 2022, BASF appointed a Chief Human Rights Officer to further embed human rights aspects in decision-making processes. He reports directly to the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors (see Material Topics in Focus: Responsibility for Human Rights, Labor and Social Standards).
We systematically evaluate sustainability criteria, including the effects of climate change, as an integral part of decisions on acquisitions and investments in property, plant and equipment or financial assets. In this way, we not only assess economic dimensions, but also the potential impacts on areas such as the environment, human rights or the local community. We evaluate both the potential impacts of our activities here as well as which effects we are exposed to.
If we identify potential negative impacts or previously untapped opportunities to make a greater contribution, for example in planned investments, these are presented transparently in the internal decision-making process and possible mitigation measures, such as changes in water management, are proposed.
In our Sustainable Finance Roundtable, we discuss topics relating to sustainable finance. Here, experts from departments such as Finance, Corporate Strategy, and Investor Relations and Communications discuss new legal or capital market-driven requirements. The interdisciplinary group analyzes the steadily growing requirements, assesses the impacts on BASF and drives forward the necessary change processes as well as the concrete implementation of measures.