Intermediates

Low Product Carbon Footprint Intermediates

We offer our customers a portfolio of intermediates with a significantly lower product carbon footprint (PCF) compared to the global market average

We are able to produce intermediates with a low carbon footprint by combining various factors, such as our integrated Verbund production set-up, highly efficient production processes and the use of natural gas and oil and not coal as raw material. Learn more in the video.

Low Product Carbon Footprint Intermediates

Product carbon footprint significantly below the global average PCF of the corresponding products made by third parties
Highly efficient production process
Available for selected products

Offered from: Geismar (USA), Ludwigshafen (Germany)

PolyTHF® - Polytetrahydrofuran LowPCF

PolyTHF® is the key raw material used to produce spandex fibers. It is also an important intermediate in manufacturing thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPU).

Product page

Available products

Questions & Answers

How is the low product carbon footprint achieved?

BASF has various ways of minimizing the carbon footprint of its products. In our Verbund-production set-up, plants and their energy flows are smartly interconnected, by-products of one plant often serve as feedstock in the next. That saves raw materials and energy. Furthermore, we produce the energy for our production processes in a greenhouse gas efficient way in our combined heat and power plants. Thirdly, we have been investing in the energy and raw material efficiency of our production processes for many years and constantly work on further improvements. Finally, since raw materials play a decisive role for emissions, our low product carbon footprint products are typically based on oil or gas and not on coal as primary raw material. For Low Carbon Footprint Intermediates, we make use of all these options.

Why are only selected products available as Low Carbon Footprint Intermediates?

We manufacture our products efficiently in plants all over the world. Some of them even stand out in aspects having an impact on the product carbon footprint, such as production set-up, energy management and raw materials. Low Carbon Footprint Intermediates are typically made at sites where all of them are present.

Do conventional products or those unavailable as "Low Carbon Footprint" Intermediates underperform in sustainability?

No. BASF has recently calculated product carbon footprints for its portfolio. The results reveal that often the CO₂ footprints of BASF products are lower or considerably lower than industry average values for the respective region available from databases.

Are there alternative ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with BASF products?

Yes. For the broad Intermediates portfolio, the biomass balance (BMBCert™) and chemcycling (Ccycled™) methodology can be employed. In both cases, the fossil feedstock normally needed to manufacture the product replaced up tp 100% with renewable raw materials (biomass balance) or pyrolisis oil made from plastic waste (chemcycling). Both are mass balance approaches: The final product is identical in quality and properties to the standard product, but the alternative raw material used is allocated to it, reducing the product carbon footprint. Selected products are also available as biobased products physically containing the renewable feedstock.

We provide full transparency about the carbon footprint of our products

Reliable information about the carbon footprint of your input materials

As the first chemical producer, BASF provides full transparency about the carbon footprints of its products. These insights help you to better measure and reduce the CO₂ fooprint of your own activities and products.

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Guidance for customers: How to calculate a product carbon footprint

Our service

By providing our customers with the PCF values of the BASF products they use, it is easier for them to calculate the PCF values of their own products.

However, BASF only calculates the PCF values of its own products, not those of customer products. Nevertheless, we have compiled some guidance and materials to support our customers.

Calculation consultants

The organizations listed in the drop-down table below can be consulted and mandated with the calculation of Product Carbon Footprints (PCF). The list is meant to facilitate the contact between BASF customers and consulting companies.

Downloads

The documents available for download below are originally intended for our suppliers, from whom we expect compliance with certain standards in the calculation of product carbon footprints.

However, as these documents can also help our customers to calculate PCF values, we also offer them here.

Table of consultants

Consultant	URL	E-Mail contact	Scope
Deloitte	https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/risk/cyber-strategic-risk/topics/climate-and-sustainability-thought-leadership.html	lca.support@deloitte.fr	Global
ERM	https://www.erm.com/service/product-stewardship/	ERMGlobal-LCA-PCF@erm.com	Global
EY	https://www.ey.com/en_gl/climate-change-sustainability-services	Fabian.Willibald@de.ey.com	Global
Fundação Espaço ECO	https://www.espacoeco.org.br/	espacoeco@basf.com	South America
PRé Sustainability	https://pre-sustainability.com/solutions/consulting/sustainable-products/life-cycle-assessment-lca/	consultancy@pre-sustainability.com	Global
Quantis	https://quantis-intl.com/metrics/footprints-lca/product/	info.deutschland@quantis-intl.com	Europe, North America
Sphera	https://sphera.com/basf-supplier-pcf/	BASF.Supplier.PCF@sphera.com	Global
TÜV Rheinland	www.tuv.com/en/LCA	carbon@de.tuv.com	Global

The above mentioned organizations are familiar with the principles of the BASF PCF calculation methodology and will apply them in the calculation of your Product Carbon Footprint once you have identified yourself as BASF customer. BASF does not hold any warranty of liability nor will carry any expenses for the services provided.

How do we identify LowPCF intermediates?

To identify the intermediates with a low product carbon footprint (PCF) we have calculated the individual PCFs of a large part of our portfolio of chemical intermediates. We then compared the results with assessments of market-wide average carbon footprints of the corresponding products of third parties (all produced from fossil-based raw materials).

BASF’s product carbon footprint (PCF) calculations follow the requirements and guidance given by ISO 14067:2018. In a methodology review, TÜV Rheinland has certified that the PCF methodology SCOTT developed and used by BASF SE for calculating the PCFs of BASF products is scientifically-based, is in accordance with ISO 14067:2018 and the Together for Sustainability PCF Guideline, and reflects the state of the art (ID-Nr. 0000080389: BASF SE-Certipedia).

BASF has made the assessments of corresponding third-party products using publicly available information and fee-based, proprietary market survey data on production routes and deployed raw materials, to the extent available, as well as BASF’s own market and technology know-how. The data assumptions and allocation factors for third-party PCFs are the same as for the calculation of the PCF of the BASF product, as applicable. BASF’s assessments of the PCFs of the corresponding third-party products have not been subject to an LCA critical review by an independent third party.

Customer Information about PCF calculation

Product Carbon Footprint:
Customer Information

BASF is the first large chemical company to make available to its customers the individual carbon footprints for all its sales products.
Having PCF values from BASF, our customers can better assess their greenhouse gas emissions from sourcing and calculate the PCFs of their own products.

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