Bayer AG
Bayer is a Life Science company with a more than 150-year history and core competencies in the areas of healthcare and agriculture. With our innovative products, we are contributing to finding solutions to some of the major challenges of our time. A growing and aging world population requires an adequate supply of food and improved medical care. With our innovative products, we are contributing to finding solutions to some of the major challenges of our time. With life expectancy continuing to rise, we improve quality of life for a growing population by focusing our research and development activities on preventing, alleviating and treating diseases. We are also making an important contribution to providing a reliable supply of high-quality food, feed and plant-based raw materials. Our goal is to create value for our customers, stockholders and employees, while also strengthening the company’s earning power. We are committed to operating sustainably and addressing our social and ethical responsibilities.

Purpose

Guided by our purpose “Science for a better life,” we deliver breakthrough innovations in health care and agriculture. We contribute to a world in which diseases are not only treated but effectively prevented or cured, in which people can take better care of their own health needs, and in which enough agriculture products are produced while respecting our planet’s natural resources. That's because at Bayer, we believe that growth and sustainability should go hand in hand. In short, we are working to make our vision “Health for all, hunger for none” a reality.

Werner Baumann

Former CEO, Bayer AG

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We believe it is vital to state clearly to the world the set of our beliefs about Inclusive Capitalism. As such, we start with our Statement of Guiding Principles for Inclusive Capitalism. Knowing that words alone are not enough, each of us is making a series of commitments about how we will operate our institutions so that they help achieve Inclusive Capitalism. These commitments are forward-looking statements based on current goals, expectations and assumptions, which are not guarantees of future performance. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Use

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Summary

By 2030, we will enable 100 million people in underserved communities to access everyday health. We want to change this through the availability of appropriate products and education.

Activities & Initiatives

Global health systems are under constant cost pressure. An aging population, a growing number of lifestyle-related diseases and rising costs are preventing access to health care for more and more people and leaving behind the world’s underserved communities, particularly the women and children living there. At least half the world’s population is currently unable to access basic medical services, including self-care products. Expanding access to self-care solutions and health education can help patients prevent disease and offer healthcare to communities where self-care might be the only option. With an initial focus on women’s health and expanding access to micronutrients for pregnant women and children, Bayer will increase the availability and affordability of our trusted brands and support self-care initiatives.

Measures & Targets

For this challenge, all Consumer Health business units and countries have been taken into scope. The interventions from Bayer to increase access to self-care can be categorized into two channels:

  • Commercial channels, which provide people in underserved communities with Bayer self-care products or services
  • Partnerships, which support people in underserved communities through direct partnerships, third-party partnerships or campaigns

It is assumed that people in underserved communities with an income of $2-10/day are reached  by Bayer self-care products or services from commercial channels while people with an income of $0-2/day are primarily served by providing products and services through partnerships. In the KPI derivation performed in 2019 and 2020, Bayer determined the reach based on data from commercial channels only. When respective partnerships are established in the future, in which Bayer has a major role by providing funds or product donations, their contribution to the target will be counted via the partnership channels. For more information, please refer to our method paper "The Consumer Health Sustainability Challenge for Everyday Health Care" (Method-Paper-CH.pdf (bayer.com)

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

By 2030, Bayer AG will provide 100 million women in low- and middle-income countries with access to modern contraception. We want to strengthen the role of women and intensify our efforts in modern family planning.

Activities & Initiatives

Access to family planning empowers women and promotes gender equality, which, in turn, results in increased economic and social development, and healthier societies overall. According to the UN, however, over 200 million women of reproductive age in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) who want to avoid pregnancy don't use safe and effective family planning methods. We believe that all women should have access to voluntary family planning no matter their economic status, helping improve their health, economic opportunities and progress towards gender equality. With this goal in mind, we are expanding our offering of long-acting products that are in especially high demand in international development projects, such as the Jadelle™ implant and the Mirena™ coil. As is currently the case for oral contraceptives and contraceptive injections, these products will be offered to our partners (such as the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA) at preferential prices. Further collaborations are planned to promote voluntary family planning programs. We pledge support for participating partners irrespective of the products used.

Measures & Targets

For this challenge, the Pharma Women’s Healthcare business unit and its products as well as countries classified as LMIC by the World Bank have been taken into scope. The interventions from Bayer to satisfy women’s need for modern contraception can be categorized into three channels:

  • local country contributions, which provide women with Bayer contraceptive products via local commercial channels in a country
  • global headquarters contributions, which provide women with Bayer contraceptive products via global reproductive health programs, national governmental tender or multinational distribution contracts with social marketing organizations as direct sales from Pharma Headquarters
  • partnerships channel, which refers to counts in women in LMIC using modern contraception as a result of family planning campaigns supported by Bayer viapartnerships.

In the KPI derivation of 2019 and 2020, we have only considered data from the local country contributions and the global headquarters contributions, since the partnership channels will only be incorporated in near future. For further information, please refer to our method paper "The Pharma Sustainability Challenge for Women's Healthcare" (Method-Paper-PH.pdf (bayer.com)

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

CO2 neutralization - by end of 2029, we will reduce CO2 emissions from our own business operations by 42% by increasing energy efficiency at our sites and sourcing 100% of our electricity from renewable energies. We will offset remaining emissions.

Activities & Initiatives

Without suitable countermeasures, global temperature will rise by well over 2 degrees Celsius. This will threaten our planet’s ecosystems, jeopardize the health of people, animals and plants, and place the food supply for a growing world population at risk. Bayer is therefore taking several steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within our company and along our entire value chain in accordance with the Paris Agreement, an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Bayer is committed to mitigate climate change and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Agreement. We have set ourselves a Science Based Target to decarbonize and a net zero target including our supply chain for 2050. We are looking to achieve this with an absolute reduction of 42 percent in our emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 2030. We included making our own sites climate-neutral in our Group targets to be met by 2030. To achieve this, we are about to implement a number of measures focusing on energy efficiency, energy sources, offsetting and the value chain. Between 2020 and 2030, we will be investing EUR 500 million to improve energy efficiency in our own plants. By 2030, the remaining emissions will be fully offset by purchasing certificates from verified climate protection projects, especially in the areas of forest conservation and agriculture. When selecting projects, we pay particular attention to ensuring they enable long-term CO2 capture (permanence) and would not take place without the sale of certificates (additionality). Furthermore, we have introduced additional in-house quality requirements, such as certifying projects according to internationally recognized standards. Bayer products and services are also linked to emissions that are generated before and after the company’s activities, for instance in the supply chain or by customers (scope 3 emissions). In this case, the SBTi has confirmed that Bayer is helping to limit global warming to a 2 °C scenario, with CO2 emissions to be reduced by at least 12.3 percent in 2029 compared to the 2019 baseline. Given the very large number of suppliers, the 12.3 percent reduction in emissions attributed to the supply chain and/or customers poses a similar challenge to the 42 percent reduction for in-house emissions.

Measures & Targets

Bayer aims to be climate neutral in our own operations by 2030. To accomplish this, we will for example implement energy efficiency measures at our sites and convert 100 percent of the purchased electricity to renewable energies. The remaining emissions will be offset by purchasing certificates from climate protection projects with recognized quality standards. Additionally, we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions along the up- and downstream value chain through cooperation with suppliers and customers. Our targets for Scope 1&2 are in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and the target for Scope 3 helps to limit global warming to a 2 degrees Celsius scenario. We have joined the world's leading Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which transparently reviews our reduction targets. The progress of our Corporate Sustainability Challenge is monitored with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which are shown below with the respective targets:

  • KPI: Scope 1&2 GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in million tons CO2e (referred to as Scope 1&2 KPI)  –> Target: 42% reduction by the end of 2029 in comparison to the 2019 baseline
    • Sub-KPI: Purchased electricity from renewable sources in tera joule (referred to as Renewable Electricity KPI)
    • Sub-target: 100% from renewable sources by the end of 2029
  • KPI: GHG emissions offset of remaining Scope 1&2 GHG emissions in million tons CO2e (referred to as Offsetting KPI)
    • Target: 100% offset by the end of 2030
  • KPI: Scope 3 GHG emissions in million tons CO2e (referred to as Scope 3 KPI)
    • Target: 12.3% reduction by the end of 2029 in comparison to the 2019 baseline

For further information, please refer to our method paper "The Corporate Sustainability Challenge “Climate-neutrality at own sites and achievement of Science Based Targets” (Method-Paper-GHG.pdf (bayer.com))

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

By 2030, we will help 100 million small holder farmers in low- and middle-income countries to produce enough quality food for themselves and others. We are helping by improving access to knowledge, products and services.

Activities & Initiatives

Approximately 97% of the world’s farmers farm on less than 10 hectares (~25 acres) of land. That’s approximately 550 million small farms across Asia, Africa, and the developing world. These farmers, many under 2 hectares produce roughly a third of the world’s food supply and in low- and middle-income countries, they produce a bit more than half of the calories consumed. It’s is no exaggeration to say that smallholder farmers play a big role in global agriculture and food security. While farmers all over the world face challenges such as extreme weather, pests, crop disease, and uncertain markets, many smallholder farmers lack access to the solutions they need to overcome these challenges and grow enough food to support their livelihoods and the communities that depend on them. As a global leader in agriculture, we’re uniquely positioned to help. This is why, by 2030, we're committed to empowering 100 million smallholder farmers in developing regions by improving access to agronomic knowledge, products, services, and partnerships.

Measures & Targets

For this challenge, all Crop Science business units in the low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have been taken into scope. There are two channels contributing to the target of supporting 100 million smallholder farmers:

  • Commercial channels, which provides smallholder farmers with Bayer products and services such as trainings, advisory services or digital solutions via local commercial channels in a country
  • Partnership channels, which supports smallholder farmers through direct partnerships, third-party partnerships or campaigns.

In the KPI derivation performed in 2019 and 2020, we have only considered data from the commercial channels. The partnership channels will be incorporated in the future as appropriate, i.e. when generating reach beyond the commercial channels. The calculation process of the commercial channels is performed in four steps to obtain the number of smallholder farmers in LMIC supported by products and services. For more information, please refer to our method paper "The Crop Science Sustainability Challenge for Smallholders" (Method-Paper-CS.pdf (bayer.com)

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

We will reduce the environmental impact of plant protection products by 30% by 2030. Our innovation pipeline will enable farmers to increase yields on existing farmland. Protecting biodiversity is key to our mission and to the future of agriculture.

Activities & Initiatives

A data-driven approach to reducing environmental impact

There is no one-size-fits-all solution in agriculture, and what works for one grower may not work for another. We will partner with growers in the countries and crops where we can have the greatest impact to optimize their entire integrated crop management approach. With our ever-expanding set of tools driven by our innovation pipeline, we partner with growers to select crop protection solutions tailored to their farms that both add value and reduce the environmental impact of their operations. To achieve our commitment, we are: Optimizing pesticide volumes required per hectare through tools like: 
  • Precision application: data-driven tools that ensure that the right amount of crop protection is applied in the right place and at the right time.
  • Seed treatment: seed-applied crop protection tools can dramatically reduce the volume of chemicals used and potential exposure to wildlife and the environment.
  • Seeds and traits: crops bred and designed to better fight the pests and diseases that attack them, ensuring that less chemical crop protection is needed.
Discovering new and better crop protection solutions that can significantly reduce environmental impact such as:
  • New chemistry: new modes of action with better environmental profiles that deliver the same level of efficacy while reducing potential environmental risk and exposure. We can now screen new substances at the early stages of the pipeline for their environmental impact and include this assessment in pipeline advancement decisions.
  • Biologics: We offer a number of products derived from microbes or based on natural defense mechanisms of organisms that complement and enhance integrated management practices and reduce pest resistance.
Reformulating existing and new crop protection tools to mitigate environmental risk and reduce the volume (alternative: amounts of active ingredients needed; instead of “volume of pesticides”) of pesticides such as: 
  • Improved formulations: crop protection formulas that reduce off-target movement or increase the adherence of a product to the leaves (e.g. rainfastness) help keep the active ingredient where it is supposed to be and limits exposure off-field to the environment.
Recommending best practices to growers that can improve their sustainability and reduce their environmental impact including:
  • Stewardship measures: good agricultural practices such as buffer strips, tillage practices, cover crops or drift and run-off reducing measures that aim to keep crop protection where it is intended: on the field. See this in practice on the Bayer ForwardFarming network.
  • Integrated Pest Management: a holistic and systemic approach to pest management on a seasonal or multi-year timescale.

Measures & Targets

The commitment to reduce the environmental impact of crop protection is a promise we’re making, simply yet ambitiously, to everyone. Measuring it is just as ambitious and not nearly as simple. But this is how we’ll all know that we’re keeping that promise and making progress. By using state of the art Environmental Impact Reduction (EIR) methodology we add the dimension of a robust science-based tool to help compare the relative environmental impacts of different tools on a farm. Moreover, it enables us to choose and develop products that have less impact while maintaining grower benefits. We’re using the two leading externally developed scientific models—and we’re making how we use them public. For the first time in the agriculture industry, we are using externally developed consensus models to evaluate the potential global environmental impact of our crop protection portfolio. Developed by a consortium led by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and endorsed by the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, PestLCI 2.0 and USEtox are the most advanced life-cycle assessment models that can be used to characterize potential environmental impact across different countries and different crops. These models work together to give us a clear idea of our impact. Here’s how:

  • PestLCI 2.0 models how much of an active ingredient reaches the air, soil or water.
  • USEtox then determines how much of this active ingredient is available over time and the potential impact it could have on the ecosystem.

As the science of impact assessment evolves, we’ll work with the DTU and other experts in the field to expand the capabilities of the current models. And because these models are public, we’re able to invite the entire scientific community to check our progress and verify where we stand on our commitments. We’re looking to independent third-parties to verify our work.  Any credible science is peer-reviewed and vetted—and working to reduce crop protection’s environmental impact is no different. In fact, with an issue that’s so important to us all, it should be possible for anyone to measure the progress. Bayer is constantly working towards its commitment to help farmers all over the world reduce the environmental impact of crop protection. That’s why…

  • The Technical University of Denmark will independently assess environmental impact.
  • External auditors will review all results and progress.
  • Third parties are welcomed to independently perform verification of their own, using these publicly-available models.
  • Our progress and all of the annual results and data will be publicly available on our website.

SDG Focus Area(s):

Summary

We will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in major agricultural markets – per kilogram of crop yield – by 30 percent by 2030.

Activities & Initiatives

Human activities produce greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are the leading cause of climate change, and agriculture accounts for nearly a quarter of these global emissions (including land use change). We have the capability – and responsibility – to develop climate-smart solutions and trigger farmers’ adoption by creating innovative business models that benefit farmers, tackle climate change, and drive towards a carbon-zero future for agriculture. To tackle such an ambitious goal, we’re focusing our efforts where we can make the biggest impact, working collaboratively with growers and partners across the value chain to reduce the GHG emissions of crops grown in the field and even help farmers sequester CO2 and generate revenue from the practice, all while also reducing emissions in our own operations. Deforestation and land-use change are some of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. By bringing innovations like more productive crops to the market, we can help growers produce more food on the same amount of land, with less impact on the environment—known as sustainable intensification. This can lead to reduced use of natural resources, crop protection products, and fertilizer, while at the same time enhancing biodiversity and allowing more arable land to be reforested.

Measures & Targets

We have developed robust indicators and targets that build upon internationally recognized life cycle assessment methodologies. Specific to GHG emissions, we are measuring the impact and adoption rate of our solutions by tracking them against the current 5-year average of market practices for the main crops in Bayer’s key regions. In addition, all of our data is being reviewed and verified by an independent third party. As we move forward, we will transparently track all of our progress here for all to see.

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