Reducing our Climate Impact and Operational Footprint

As a positive contribution to climate change, we aim to reduce our carbon footprint in production and downstream transportation and to achieve carbon neutrality through an offset program. In addition to these measures, we are also working rigorously on reducing our environmental footprint concerning water, waste, and energy, as well as leveraging sustainable packaging.

Already Active for climate

Visit the bioactives team at our Pulnoy site and let Andreas introduce you to the third strategic pillar of our Responsibly Active program. Take a closer look at what we are doing to improve our environmental and carbon footprint as well as how we, as a team, are driving change with smart ideas and personal commitment.

Our key actions

For the implementation of our Responsibly Active sustainability program, we are focusing on the following key actions:

Waste: Reduce raw material packaging; optimize waste valorization by finding the best treatment for the type of waste
Transportation: Switch from air freight to sea freight transportation; optimize order and product consolidation; smart packaging
Energy: Reduce consumption in production through investments/changes in process efficiency and building performance
Renewable energy: Increase share and compensate non-avoidable emissions through certified carbon offsetting programs

Our progress in 2022

We are committed to minimizing our impact on climate and the environment by reducing our operational footprint as we move towards carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2. While we have already exceeded our 2025 energy and water saving targets, the transition to recyclable packaging takes time and further efforts.

Our Journey to Carbon Neutrality

We have a comprehensive energy management program in place to reduce our energy consumption at our bioactives production site in Pulnoy, France. Over the past year, we pushed this program further ahead by optimizing our process efficiency and improving thermal insulation performance of our buildings, as one example. As a result of all these efforts, we have already exceeded our 2025 energy saving targets. For the remaining energy requirements, we have switched our power supply to renewable energy in 2022, resulting in a reduction of around 130 tons of CO₂ per year.

Check out the Progress Report 2022

Meet our heroes

Christophe, Maintenance Technician, BASF

As a maintenance technician, it’s my job to take care of our utilities’ supply. This includes measuring energy consumption and continuously improving efficiency. In 2021, we optimized steam generation necessary in manufacturing by replacing an old system with a high-performing new one. This investment not only reduced our energy costs but also our climate footprint. Thanks to the new steam boiler we now save more than 70 tons of CO2 per year. That's equivalent to the emissions of a conventional car over half a million kilometers.
Pierrick, EHS Coordinator, BASF

I firmly believe that, in addition to large-scale measures, sustainable progress is also driven by individual commitment. Together with the production team, we implemented a process to re-use drums for internal production storage. This saved us more than a ton of waste in 2021 alone.
Farid, EHS Engineer, BASF

Waste unfortunately can’t be avoided at every point. Today, we already valorize 98% of our waste. Therefore, we have defined 40 types of waste and recycle them according to a specific treatment. So, we came up with a process to valorize our botanical wastes, either to be used by farmers as organic fertilizers or for the production of more than 18 MWh of green energy locally. That alone doesn’t change the world – but it equals the average yearly energy consumption of 8 people.
Gatien, Production Operator, BASF

To save water, we have not shied away from challenging firmly established processes, and we have optimized our in-place cleaning procedures. As a result, we effectively minimized our freshwater and energy consumption and saved cleaning and neutralizing agents while improving the quality of wastewater – without any compromises on process or product quality. On our way to reaching our ambitious goals every step – even the smallest one – counts!