TAGS: Environmentally Friendly Coatings Automotive Coatings
BASF Refinish Coatings invited all its partners along the value chain to jointly seek the optimal path to achieve the new volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission target, at the occasion of its Annual Dealers Conference in China held in Shanghai.
Lowering Carbon Footprint
In 2021, with the launch of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, the chemical industry focused its environmental protection goals on the low-carbon transformation of the industry and the comprehensive regulation of VOC emissions.
The new recommended VOC emission standards (GB/T 38597-2020 Technical requirement for low-volatile-organic-compound-content coatings product) have come into force at the State level, placing stricter targets on the entire industry, especially for the automotive refinish industry. Provinces along the Yangtze River Delta, including Jiangsu and Shanghai, have taken a further step to adopt the GB/T standard as compulsory.
Liu Jie, Secretary in General, from China Coatings Industry Association, explained that the major trend of the refinish industry in the next five-year plan will focus on promoting low VOC products significantly.
Meeting Volatile Organic Compounds Targets
“We’ve seen quite some changes regarding VOC classification and regulation in the recommended version, which is meant to direct the industry towards the new standards in three to five years. This is a good opportunity for us to interpret the details, discuss the way forward and gather feedback from different industry players,” said Liu.
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The ever stricter new standards signified the high importance and urgency the Chinese government would like to curb the VOC pollution from the sources.” Liu also shared the staggered implementation status across the country.
“BASF Coatings is responding actively to the central and local governments’ call to reduce VOC emissions. In fact BASF has defined comprehensive and transparent sustainability goals and announced its carbon neutral targets in 2050 in March, in line with the Chinese government’s carbon goal in 2060,” said Patrick Zhao, Senior Vice President, BASF Coatings Solutions Asia Pacific.
BASF wants to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It also significantly raised its medium-term 2030 target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent compared with 2018.
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We at BASF Coatings introduced the Coatings’ Carbon Footprint roadmap in 2020, which focused on reducing our carbon footprint along the value chain, from raw materials, production & processes, products & solutions to our employees,” said Patrick.
Source: BASF