The head of BASF has warned the European Union needs to update its “obsolete” emissions trading scheme and reconsider the phaseout of free credits to avoid disaster for the chemicals industry. European chemicals makers were at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the world as the bloc was “the only region in the world” where industries had to pay for their carbon dioxide emissions, which has raised energy costs, Markus Kamieth, chief executive of the chemicals major, told the Financial Times in an interview. European…