GERMANY – BASF has recently committed to powering all of its European sites under BASF Performance Materials with 100% green electricity.
The plan already kickstarted on January 1, 2025.
This is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to drive the green transformation within the industry.
Alongside this milestone, BASF is also expanding its renewable energy projects, including investments in offshore wind power at the Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm and solar energy at its Schwarzheide site.
In parallel, BASF has also unveiled its self-developed AI assistant, chatBASF, which now supports more than 40,000 employees in various tasks, from translations to conducting research, integrated into daily workflows in a secure manner.
The company is also utilizing an AI-powered assistant for IT-related queries on MS Teams and M365 Copilot, which are part of BASF’s broader Corporate AI Program aimed at enhancing productivity and fostering innovation across operations.
BASF’s financial results for the full year 2024 reflect some challenges, with the company reporting preliminary sales of US$69.4 billion, down from US$73.6 billion in 2023, largely due to unfavorable currency impacts despite a slight increase in volumes.
The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, and special items (EBITDA) reached US$7.9 billion, which aligned with analyst expectations, though it was slightly below the earlier forecast of US$8.0 billion, a slight improvement from the US$7.7 billion reported for 2023.
Cash flow from BASF’s operations exceeded expectations, with a reported US$0.7 billion, surpassing the anticipated US$0.4 billion and the company’s own projected range of US$0.1 billion to US$0.6 billion.
Despite a recovery in sales prices over the year, the Chemicals segment saw a marked decline in earnings in the final quarter, showing only a modest improvement over the same period in 2023.
However, BASF saw stronger performance from its Agricultural Solutions division, which made a significant contribution to the overall EBITDA before special items during the last quarter of 2024.
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