Company Overview
BASF India Limited is the Indian operation of one of the world’s largest chemical companies, supplying polyurethane raw materials into the footwear value chain. Its supplied products – ELASTOPAN and ISO systems – total nearly 1.4 million kilograms a year, with raw materials sourced across India, Korea, China, and Germany.
With a workforce exceeding 1,000, BASF India runs at a scale far larger than most of the cohort. Its most energy-intensive processes are MDI splitting and prepolymer manufacturing. As a global leader, it operates comprehensive corporate ESG systems – the assessment’s role was to capture and verify how those systems manifest at the supplying-site level.
The Challenge
Performance. Proof. Recognition
A global chemicals leader supplying demanding, quality-conscious customers, BASF India needed its site-level ESG practices captured in a standardised, comparable rating. Corporate-level sustainability claims – however credible at group scale are not the same as a verified, site-specific credential that a footwear manufacturer’s procurement team can file against a supplier record.
The company’s particular strengths in safety, water stewardship, and governance were mature but not independently benchmarked in this context. BASF needed a rating that translated global capability into local, checkable evidence.
OUR APPROACH
Evidence. Measure. Benchmark.
Build To Sustain applied the SIM seven-pillar framework, collecting foundational operational data through the Bridge platform and scorable ESG practices through a dedicated questionnaire. Every score was tied to documented evidence and cross-checked between the two data layers.
Because BASF operates at large scale, the assessment paid particular attention to reconciling site-level operational figures with corporate-level policy claims – flagging any inconsistencies for the company to resolve in future cycles rather than silently accepting or discarding them.
EXECUTION
Validate. Rate. Certify.
BASF India completed both data layers. During assessment, BTS surfaced several data points worth the company’s attention: a GHG-target response that differed between the Bridge and questionnaire layers, an electricity figure that appeared implausibly low for a chemical plant, and a blank welfare-benefits field that cost marks it likely deserved. These were flagged transparently rather than adjusted — an example of the evidence-first discipline the framework enforces.
The assessment produced a full scorebook and a Gold-tier certificate, with the noted data items recorded for reconciliation ahead of the next cycle.
EXECUTION
The Assessment in Detail
BASF India was rated Gold with an overall score of 83/100, placing second in the cohort. It achieved perfect scores across four of the seven pillars — a breadth of full marks matched by no other supplier — with its opportunities concentrated in energy, materials, and one social data gap.
Pillar scorecard
| Energy & Climate | Water & Effluent | Waste & Circularity | Materials & Product | Health & Safety | Labour & Social | Governance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/15 | 10/10 | 12/12 | 5/13 | 15/15 | 11/15 | 20/20 |
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
Environment 74/100
Perfect scores on Water & Effluent (10/10) and Waste & Circularity (12/12): metering, recycling and reuse, rainwater harvesting, water-reduction targets, authorised hazardous-waste disposal, a formal waste policy, and intensity tracking. Energy trails – solar sits under 5% of consumption and organisation-level GHG emissions are not yet tracked, though reduction targets exist and ISO 50001 energy audits are conducted.
Social 87/100
A full 15/15 on Health & Safety — the only supplier to max the pillar — with a formal OHS system, zero lost-time injuries, quarterly training and drills, full PPE, on-site first aid, and LTIFR/TRIR tracking. Labour scored 11/15, held back mainly by a blank welfare-benefits response and under-10% female representation.
Governance 100/100
A perfect governance score built on ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 certifications, product certifications, a Code of Conduct, anti-bribery and whistleblower mechanisms, formal ESG reporting, third-party audits, a designated sustainability team, and data-privacy and business-continuity policies.
STANDOUT STRENGTHS
- Four perfect-scoring pillars — Health & Safety (15/15), Governance (20/20), Waste & Circularity (12/12), and Water & Effluent (10/10) — a breadth unmatched in the cohort.
- The strongest safety record of any assessed supplier: zero lost-time injuries with full metric tracking.
- Comprehensive water stewardship and waste governance, underpinned by ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 certification.
Improvement Roadmap
The assessment translates into a prioritised set of next steps — the fastest, highest-impact routes to a stronger rating:
| Focus area | Recommended action |
|---|---|
| Energy & Climate (10/15) | Begin organisation-level GHG emissions tracking and expand the renewable-energy share beyond 5% — the single clearest lift available to the environmental dimension. |
| Materials & Product (5/13) | Advance product-level carbon footprinting and Life Cycle Assessment, and raise recycled/bio-based content above its current under-5% level. |
| Data reconciliation | Resolve the flagged inconsistencies (GHG-target response, electricity figure, welfare-benefits disclosure) to ensure the next assessment reflects the company’s true position. |
Key Takeaways
- BASF India earned Gold with four perfect-scoring pillars — an exceptionally broad base of full marks.
- The pathway to Platinum is well defined: organisation-level GHG tracking, more renewable energy, and product carbon footprinting / LCA.
- The assessment also served a quality-control function, surfacing data inconsistencies for the company to reconcile.