Markus Kamieth

Markus Kamieth became Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE in 2024, taking the helm of the world's largest chemical company by revenue. Headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, BASF operates the world's largest single-site chemical complex (Verbund) and produces thousands of chemical products spanning basic chemicals, intermediates, performance materials, catalysts, coatings, agricultural solutions, and nutrition. BASF faces a structural challenge: European energy costs, which surged after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have made European chemical production significantly less competitive than production in the US (with cheap natural gas) and China. Kamieth inherited the strategic response: a massive $10+ billion investment in a new Verbund production site in Zhanjiang, China, while restructuring and downsizing European operations. This China bet is both BASF's biggest growth opportunity and its most politically controversial decision. Kamieth's key decisions involve managing the European cost restructuring, Zhanjiang site completion and ramp-up, agricultural solutions strategy, sustainability investment (BASF is one of the largest industrial CO2 emitters in Europe), and portfolio optimization.