In this SDG Awards 2017 entry:
Voting Category: Large Organization
SDG Action
BASF is committed to help achieve the following SDGs:
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
- SDG 4: Quality Education
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- SDG 13: Climate Action
- SDG 15: Life on Land
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Through science and innovation-driven thinking, BASF enables customers from every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. We take pride in successfully combining economic success with environmental protection strategies that are also connected to social responsibility. Aligned with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we develop products and solutions that contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future.
At BASF Canada, we have a team of approximately 700 employees at 11 facilities located across the country. As a member of the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), we are committed to Responsible Care, a voluntary worldwide-initiative launched in 1985 by the CIAC. Showcasing our commitment to sustainability, BASF is developing solutions to help address the current and future needs of society. Through our Sustainable Solution Steering Methodology, we are able to look at the entire value chain to asses the overall environmental, societal, and economic contributions of BASF products. Find more information in our appendix:
- Sustainable Solution Steering® – Accelerator Example Collection
Making a significantly positive social and environmental impact, BASF Canada has also made charitable contributions to organizations such as the Red Cross, ACT Foundation, and the Credit Valley Conservation, focusing on areas that are aligned with our primary philanthropic objectives: science education, environment, health and safety programs, diversity and inclusion and community-based initiatives. BASF Canada’s charitable program also focuses on opportunities which allow for employee involvement and volunteerism. Find more information in our appendix:
- Community Relations and Employee Engagement
- Science Education Objectives and Strategies
We actively support science education, recognizing that today’s students will be the innovators and leaders of the future:
- Together with Earth Rangers, our BASF Kids’ Lab program has reached over 4,000 students in schools and Indigenous communities across Canada. The program enables children to experience the wonders of chemistry through safe and engaging experiments.
- As part of providing meaningful careers for young women and men, BASF Canada pays up to $25,000 annually for any employee enrolled in graduate studies and up to $15,000 annually for undergraduate studies.
Gender equality, diversity, and inclusion continues to be a strategic focus, for allowing us to work towards achieving the SDGs. Highlights include:
- Ensuring a diverse panel of interviewers during the hiring process and working towards an objective of at least 30% female representation across the organization. We have also mirrored this target of 30% diversity in our supplier diversity efforts.
- Major education initiatives with indigenous communities through partnering with INDSPIRE to sponsor scholarships for indigenous students.
SDG Impact
The SDGs provide a framework to complement our current and future business activities. For example, we integrated the SDGs to enhance the sustainability of our product portfolio (e.g. Sustainable Solution Steering®).
BASF Canada sees its main levers in the following SDGs: gender equality, clean water and sanitation, good jobs and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, responsible consumption and production, climate action.
SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13: Currently 27.2% of our global sales are generated from solutions that are rated as Accelerator, demonstrating the significant contribution of innovative solutions to address customers’ sustainability needs. Through BASF’s Sustainable Solution Steering approach, we source and produce responsibly, working towards cost savings downstream, biodiversity and renewables, climate change and energy, emission reduction, resource efficiency, water conservation, and health. Accelerator examples can be found in our appendix:
- Sustainable Solution Steering® – Accelerator Example Collection
SDGs 4, 10, 17: At BASF, we recognize that today’s students will be the innovators and leaders of our future. As part of our commitment to education, BASF Canada supports the following programs:
- In partnership with Earth Rangers, the Kids’ Conservation Organization, BASF Kids’ Lab was successfully launched in Canada in 2013 and has since reached more than 4,000 children between the ages of six and twelve.
- In 2016, BASF Canada donated $10,000 to the Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation to assist their efforts to provide free cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillator training programs at high schools in the Peel Region. These programs reach more than 17,000 students each year who will graduate with the skills and knowledge to save lives.
- Since 2016, BASF Canada has sponsored two student awards per year with INDSPIRE, an Indigenous-led registered charity that invests in the education of Indigenous people. The charity’s “Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries and Scholarship Awards” program match donations through a grant from the Federal Government. To date, eight students have benefited from these scholarships.
SDGs 1, 3, 8: For the past 4 years, BASF Canada has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top Employers. In 2017, BASF Canada was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a top GTA Employer, and one of the best workplaces in Manufacturing.
SDGs 5, 10: Through initiatives such as BASF Women in Business (WiB), Diversity + Inclusion (D+I) and ALLchemie (LGBTQ), BASF supports equality and inclusion in the workplace and ensures employees are able to develop personally and professionally, and foster equality and inclusion in the workplace. Currently, 50% of our leadership team are women.
SDGs 15, 17: In an effort to support reforestation, and promote sustainability within the communities we serve, BASF Canada employees have worked in collaboration with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and Essex Region Conservation to plant over 2,000 trees.
SDGs 2, 3, 4, 13: BASF Canada donated to the following organizations to help support initiatives that contribute to positive environmental and social impact:
- Red Cross
- CP24 Christmas Wish
- ACT Foundation
- Credit Valley Conservation
- Big Brothers
- St. Lawrence College
- William Osler Health Foundation
- Saskatoon Food Bank
- Holiday Helpers Canada
- Children’s Discovery Museum
- Blackie Community Association
- Essex Region Conservation
SDG Partnerships
Working towards a sustainable future is dependent on collaboration across industries. At BASF Canada, we are committed to participating in various networks that link back to our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future:
- Excellence in Corporate Environmental Leadership (EXCEL): In 2015, we joined EXCEL, Canada’s Business & Sustainability Partnership, made up of major Canadian corporations who are committed to sustainable development leadership through continual improvement of environmental and social performance.
- Global Compact Network Canada: BASF was founding member of the initiative and implements the ten principles conceived by the Global Compact within our organization, and reports in detail on the tools and measures established for this purpose.
- International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) – Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC): BASF has embraced the goals of the chemical industry’s voluntary Responsible Care initiative and applies them to the entire BASF Group. In 2016, BASF Canada successfully completed a third-party reverification of its Responsible Care management systems. This was our company’s seventh successful verification and recognizes our commitment to protecting the health and safety of our employees, communities and the environment.
- Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA): As COSIA’s Associate Member, BASF Canada is bringing additional knowledge, experience and perspectives to solve the environmental challenges facing the oil sands industry.
- Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB): BASF Canada is committed to the development of business relationships with Indigenous-owned businesses. These activities are sustained through mutual benefit. BASF Canada is a member of the CCAB, a national non-profit association that offers knowledge, resources, and programs to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal owned companies that foster economic opportunities for Aboriginal peoples and businesses across Canada.
- Earth Rangers: In partnership with Earth Rangers, the Kids’ Conservation Organization, BASF Kids’ Lab was successfully launched in Canada in 2013 and has since reached more than 4,000 children between the ages of six and twelve. The program enables children to experience the wonders of chemistry through safe and engaging experiments.