BASF wants to make Antwerp its first climate neutral site, by 2030

The German chemical giant BASF wants to make its Antwerp production site, the second largest in the world, the first climate-neutral site within the group. The site in Antwerp currently accounts for approximately 3 percent of the total electricity consumption in Belgium.

The plans were highlighted on Wednesday 5 October during the visit of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde to BASF's headquarters in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The ambition is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 for BASF group as a whole. But in Antwerp, the group hopes to achieve that target a lot earlier. CEO Jan Remeysen of BASF Antwerp did not want to pin down a concrete date yet, but is aiming for "as close as possible to 2030".

It will also depend on the new technologies and the economic situation, he said.

"By 2026, our CO2 emissions should be halved compared to 2018. But there is still work to do after that," he added.

Renewable energy

The objective of neutrality will be achieved by investing in renewable energies. Not an easy task when you know that BASF Antwerp absorbs about 3% of electricity consumption in Belgium.

The company is also investing in a wind farm owned by Vattenfall in the Netherlands. It should be operational by the end of 2022, beginning of 2023. It will then be the largest concentration of offshore wind turbines in the world, operating without subsidy. And in case wind and solar are not enough, the Antwerp plant has concluded green electricity contracts with third parties.

Antwerp is also counting on a CO2 storage project. The gas would be collected in chemical facilities before being taken and stored in empty gas fields in the North Sea. This initiative is particularly expensive and BASF, associated with Air Liquide, has already received quite a few European subsidies to carry it out.

(VIV)

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© BELGA PHOTO (ANDRE PAIN / AFP) (From left to right) Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE Melanie Maas-Brunner, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, King Phillippe of Belgium and Chairman of the Board of Management of BASF SE Martin Brudermueller during a visit at the headquarters of German chemical company BASF in Ludwigshafen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on October 5, 2022.