With its innovative processes and products, the chemical industry makes an important contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. BASF researchers are already contributing to making the sustainability transformation possible through their work.

Current innovation examples from BASF’s research pipeline for mobility and agriculture, such as innovative coolants for electric cars or new precision application technologies for agriculture, were presented at the company’s Research Press Conference by Dr. Melanie Maas-Brunner, member of the Board of Executive Directors and CTO of BASF SE, along with BASF scientists.

“The transformation towards sustainability starts in research,” said Maas-Brunner. “To overcome the challenges of this transformation at an even faster pace and be successful in the long term, we must further strengthen customer proximity and leverage the advantage of our Know-how Verbund.”

For this reason, the company is reorganizing its worldwide research activities in the coming year. Business-related research units, which have so far been part of the three research divisions, will be embedded into the operating divisions and thus even more closely aligned with the needs of customers. In the future, BASF will bundle research activities with relevance for several divisions in a central research division with global presence.

BASF has set itself ambitious sustainability goals. The company wants to further accelerate the development of CO2-free processes and a circular economy as well as the expansion of digitalization. Moreover, BASF supports its customers in the transformation toward greater sustainability: In total, BASF invested around €2 billion in research and development in 2020.