BASF counts the cost of CO2

Abstract

Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time, according to BASF’s chairman, Martin Brudermuller. While the chemical industry by its nature cannot do without carbon, an element that it emits in the form of a number of greenhouse gases, companies can at least manage it, he says. Now, BASF has unveiled a program to do just that. The firm, one of the world’s largest chemical companies, has pledged to stop increasing carbon dioxide emissions—even though it expects to increase chemical production by up to 50% through 2030. Brudermuller acknowledges that the strategy could be a financial burden, at least in the short term. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” he told journalists at a recent briefing on the new strategy at the firm’s headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany. But Brudermuller, who is also the firm’s chief technology officer, said it will be good for the company, and the