Palm oil: BASF responds to the 'decisive factor' of sustainability

30-May-2016 - Last updated on 30-May-2016 at 04:32 GMT

BASF, global specialty chemicals firm, has laid out a series of measures by which it hopes to raise the sustainability profile of its personal care ingredients offering, with a particular focus on palm oil.

The major ingredients supplier has set out a new process, dubbed the 'Sustainable Solution Streering' method, with which it intends to push sustainability across its personal care portfolio.

It informs formulators of the level of sustainability attached to the BASF ingredients, which, according to the company, means they can respond with greater transparency and ease to rising consumer demand for sustainability.

“The sustainability of a product is a decisive factor for making a purchase decision for a growing number of consumers,” explains Sergey Andreev, SVP for BASF's personal care division in Asia.

“Many of our customers in the personal care industry wish to further promote their sustainable development and we can help them.”

Four types

BASF has grouped its ingredients into four broad categories, corresponding to the level of sustainability they meet.

The first category, 'Accelorator', describes those ingredients which go above and beyond, contributing “a substantial contribution to sustainability in the value chain”, according to BASF.

The second category describes ingredients meet current standard market requirements, and is dubbed 'Performer', while the third, 'Transitioner', describes ingredients that currently pose specific sustainability issue which need to be actively addressed.

The final group, 'Challenged', includes all those ingredients which “do not meet the relevant sustainability criteria sufficiently”; BASF states it has developed and is implementing action plans for these.

Palm oil

The company is making palm oil and palm kernel oil its priority when it comes to addressing sustainability issues for its raw materials, noting that the oil is “the most important renewable raw material for the personal care business of BASF”.

In response, it says it is putting in place a new sourcing policy for the ingredient, and the number of its global sites which have achieved RSPO cerification has increased, including four in Asia Pacific, four in Europe, and three in North America.