Our Targets

Business success tomorrow means creating value for the environment, society and business. We have set ourselves ambitious global targets along our entire value chain. We report transparently on our target achievement so that our customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders can track our progress.

We want to grow faster than the market and thus be economically successful and profitable. Furthermore, we want to provide answers to the most pressing challenges of our time. To combat climate change and global warming, we have resolved to limit total greenhouse gas emissions from our production sites and our energy purchases to the 2018 level while growing production volumes. In other words, we want to decouple greenhouse gas emissions from organic growth. We have also defined targets for safety for people and the environment, a sustainable product portfolio, responsible procurement, sustainable water management, engaged employees, and inclusion of diversity.

The objective of these targets is to steer our business into a sustainable future and, at the same time, contribute to the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).1 We are focusing on issues where we as a company can make a significant contribution, such as climate protection, sustainable consumption and production, and fighting hunger.

Grow sales volumes

Grow sales volumes faster than global chemical production every year

–3%

(Global chemical production: 1.8%)

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Increase EBITDA before special items

Increase EBITDA before special items by 3%–5% per year

–11%

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Achieve ROCE above the cost of capital percentage

Achieve a return on capital employed (ROCE)2 considerably above the cost of capital percentage every year

7.7%

(Cost of capital: 10%)

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Increase dividend per share

Increase the dividend per share every year based on a strong free cash flow.

€3.303

(2018: €3.20)

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Grow CO2-neutrally

Grow CO2-neutrally until 2030 (Development of carbon emissions compared with baseline 2018)

–8.2%

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Reduce work-related accidents

Reduce the worldwide lost-time injury rate per 200,000 working hours to ≤ 0.1 by 2025

0.3

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Reduce process safety incidents

Reduce worldwide process safety incidents per 200,000 working hours to ≤ 0.1 by 2025

0.3

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Increase employee engagement

More than 80% of our employees feel that at BASF, they can thrive and perform at their best

79%

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Introduce sustainable water management

Introduce sustainable water management at all production sites in water stress areas and at all Verbund sites by 2030

35.8%

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Increase proportion of women in leadership positions

Increase the proportion of women in leadership positions with disciplinary responsibility to 22%–24% by 2021
New target for 2030: 30%

23%

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Increase sales from Accelerator products

Achieve €22 billion in Accelerator sales4 by 2025

€15.0 bn

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Improve sustainability of suppliers

Cover 90% of our relevant spend5 with sustainability evaluations by 2025

81%

Have 80% of our suppliers improve their sustainability performance upon re-evaluation

52%

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1 For more information on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), see About This Report and online at sustainabledevelopment.un.org

2 Return on capital employed (ROCE) is a measure of the profitability of our operations. We calculate this indicator as the EBIT generated by the segments as a percentage of the average cost of capital basis.

3 Dividend proposed by the Board of Executive Directors

4 Accelerator products are products that make a substantial sustainability contribution in the value chain.

5 We understand relevant spend as procurement volumes with suppliers defined as “relevant.” More information on suppliers