Climate warning

BASF quietly lobbies against strong climate policy

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Marine Stephan

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BASF

Climate warning
InfluenceMap, a think tank that tracks corporate lobbying activity on climate policy, ranked the chemical company BASF the third most “negative and influential” corporation in the world, following Chevron and ExxonMobil.
While there is no question that BASF has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions and impacts on the environment, there is a gap between words and actions once one looks beyond mainstream indicators to more subtle metrics (kind of research the company sponsors, how they engage with regulators, “indirect” lobbying they do through the industry associations).

“The chemical sector is anchored in fossil fuels. And its lobbying reflects that” says Will Aitchison, EU strategy manager for InfluenceMap. BASF’s facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany, represents 4% of Germany’s total gas consumption, and BASF co-owns 67% in Wintershall Dea, an oil and gas producer. The company has therefore a lot to lose from a rapid transition away from fossil fuels.
So how does it do that? It tries to undermine climate-related regulations. For instance, BASF uses its €3.5-million annual lobbying budget to repeatedly ask the European Commission to exempt ammonia, nitric acid, and the products along its value chain from some regulations.

InfluenceMap's analysis shows that 80% of the 25 companies deemed by InfluenceMap to have the most negative policy footprints look good on paper; like BASF, they have made net-zero commitments, and many, including BASF, scored A- or higher on Carbon Disclosure Project’s 2021 climate change disclosure scores, widely considered the gold standard of environmental reporting.

This really shows one thing: emission reduction is not enough, businesses should also start putting sustainability at their core, and actively advocate (everywhere and every time) for a greener, more sustainable, and more equitable future.

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Read more:
https://www.corporateknights.com/category-climate/the-climate-blockers-basf-quietly-lobbies-against-strong-climate-policy-while-talking-a-big-game/



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