Climate Change and Agriculture: Fighting Climate Change

While climate change affects us all, farmers are especially attuned to the impact of increasingly extreme weather conditions including drought, severe heat, flooding, or other shifting climatic trends. Together, these various challenges make it more difficult for farmers to cultivate their crops, ensure their livelihoods and support the global food system we all rely on. That’s why Bayer is devoted to decarbonizing agriculture by developing new solutions that help farmers withstand the impacts and address the causes of climate change. 


At Bayer, we’re working to scale the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices by our farming customers, using technologies including: high-yielding crop genetics, crop protection products, precision irrigation systems, soil management tactics through no-till and cover crops, crop rotation, root health, fertilization management, microorganisms and inoculants, a switch to direct seeded rice, and digital and precision farming tools. Combining different practices can lead to profitable, tailored solutions for our farming customers. We also have the products, partner relationships, technology and talent to help companies across the agriculture supply chain reduce their carbon footprints.

By 2030, we aim to enable our farming customers to reduce their on-field greenhouse gas emissions per mass unit of crop produced by 30% compared to the overall base year emission intensity1. This applies to the highest greenhouse gas emitting crop systems in the regions Bayer serves with its products.2 


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 carbon and generate revenue from the practice.

Progress

Recognizing that farmers are our single greatest asset for generating soil carbon, we have created new business models that will help to ensure their participation far and wide. Our global approach is designed to reach farms of all sizes. After all, we know that no matter how many hectares they manage, all farmers should reap the benefits of removing carbon from the atmosphere.


We are making significant strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions across our most important countries and crops. 

  • North America: Scaling with growers and agri-food supply chain – In North America, in addition to ForGround, Bayer’s digital platform that supports growers in regenerative agriculture practices with already millions of acres connected, partnerships have also been forged with companies like Perdue Agribusiness and Mars Petcare to help meet their carbon emissions reduction goals.
  • Latin America: Delivering Soybeans with a Deforestation-Free Carbon Footprint – In Latin America, we’re helping growers improve carbon sequestration and soil fertility to improve yield, and farmers who implement regenerative practices have access to exclusive benefits like credit discounts or early access on the purchase of farm inputs. Through a new commodities program, in May 2023, Bayer delivered the first load of Brazilian soybeans with a traceable, deforestation-free carbon footprint.
  • Asia: Reducing Methane Emissions and Generating Carbon Credits from Sustainable Rice Cultivation – In Asia, Bayer is a key partner in the Good Rice Alliance, an initiative operating today on 45,000 hectares across 11 states in India. The Alliance empowers rice farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices, moving away from growing rice in flooded fields. Farmers are provided with training and support to adopt cultivation methods that use less water and create fewer methane emissions. The Alliance also ensures a robust Measurement Reporting Verification (MRV) system and is under Gold Standard validation which enables farmers to make additional revenue from the generation of reliable and verifiable carbon credits. By 2030, The Good Rice Alliance plans to reach 1 million hectares across 15 states, reducing emissions by ~3.5 million tons of CO2 per year, setting a benchmark for similar efforts in the rice decarbonization space.
  • Europe: Helping companies across Europe decarbonize their value chains – In Europe, Bayer is delivering multiple tailored projects with large companies from the food supply and agricultural value chains in several European countries, where growers using regenerative agriculture practices are emitting on average 15 percent less carbon than conventional farmers.

Looking internally to reduce our own footprint, we have set ambitious targets for our own GHG emission reductions.


We’ve joined the world’s leading Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), founded by the CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). The initiative, aimed at assisting organizations in setting transparent targets for reducing emissions, has approved our ambitious targets in the reduction of our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. With these targets, we have committed ourselves to actively playing our part in limiting global warming to 1.5°C for Scopes 1 and 2. Enabling farmers to reduce their GHG emissions goes above and beyond what we have set with these organizations. As a leading life sciences company, we realize there’s a lot we can do to lessen the footprint for greenhouse gas emissions.

Partnering for more reach & impact across the value chain

To reach climate neutrality, we know we can’t do this alone. So, we’re collaborating with other entities to create new pathways for reducing agriculture’s emissions. When we combine our expertise with the knowledge, technologies and power of NGOs, governments, international organizations, farmers, consumers and food chain members, together we can achieve profound impact.

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1 Our reduction target refers to an overall base year greenhouse gas intensity that includes the weighted emission intensities of 18 crop-country combinations. Base years are defined individually for each crop-country combination, using data from either harvest year 2020, 2021 or 2022 depending on the availability of data.
2 The crop-country combinations Italy-Corn and Spain-Corn were not selected based on these factors but were additionally included because data were already available. 

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CEE Climate Connect Agenda

09:30 – 10:00

Welcome Coffee

An informal opportunity for participants to meet and greet each other over coffee before the session begins.

10:00 – 10:15

Welcome Remarks

Ciprian Stănescu, President, Social Innovation Solutions
Ramona Chiriac, Head of the European Commission Representation in Romania
Ana-Maria Pălăduș, Vice President, REPER21, National Coordinator for the EU Climate Pact in Romania

10:15 – 10:45

Participant Introductions

In this session, each participant will have the opportunity to introduce themselves briefly, sharing their role, the organization they represent, and their key areas of focus related to climate action and sustainability. This session is designed to give attendees a better understanding of who is present and to start identifying potential points of collaboration. 

10:45 – 12:00

Facilitated Networking Activities

This interactive segment will guide participants through structured networking exercises, encouraging meaningful exchanges and collaboration opportunities. Activities will include:

  • Speed Networking: A fast-paced series of short, one-on-one conversations where participants can quickly introduce themselves and discuss mutual interests.
  • Group Discussions: Participants will be divided into small groups based on shared topics of interest (such as energy, agriculture, or urban sustainability) to explore ideas and possible synergies.
  • Collaboration Mapping: Using a visual tool, participants will highlight potential collaborations within the group, allowing them to identify common goals and resources that can be shared for future projects.

These activities are designed to help attendees make impactful connections in a short amount of time and foster potential long-term partnerships.

12:00 – 12:30

Lunch

A relaxed networking lunch where participants can continue their conversations and deepen connections made during the morning sessions.

ESG Leaders Forum Agenda

09:00 - 10:00

Registration and Welcome Coffee

10:00 - 10:15

Introduction and Welcome Address

Ciprian Stănescu, President, Social Innovation Solutions
Philippe Gabulon, CEO Societe Generale Global Solution Centre
Alexandru Mihai Ghigiu, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office

10:15 - 10:45

Panel 1: Legislation

Elena Cargnello, Chair of the ESG Committee, Cogenio
Florin Spătaru, State Counselor in the Prime Minister’s Office

10:45 - 11:15

Panel 2: Sustainable Finance & Investment

Andrei Gurin, Team Lead, Sustainable Finance Unit, DG FISMA, European Commission
Aleksandra Palinska, Executive Director, Eurosif
Theresa Spandel, Senior Analyst, CLIMATE & COMPANY
Rep. BRD

11:15 - 11:45

Panel 3: ESG Measurement and Reporting

Alexander Stevens, CEO, Greenomy
Fenya Sourla, Co-founder and COO, Dataphoria
Kaisa Karjalainen, Director, Mission Zero Academy

11:45 - 12.30

Panel: Examples of Good Practice in Business

Ioana Botezatu, Head of CSR, Romania & India, Societe Generale Global Solution Centre
Raluca Mocanu, Sustainability Leader, IKEA România
Boualem Saidi, Country Group Head (Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova), Bayer
Corina Dospinoiu, Sustainability Director, Auchan România

12:30 - 13.00

Coffee Break

13.00 - 14.00

Breakout Sessions (3 simultaneous topics)

Room 1: Legislation
Room 2: How to make Sustainable Financing work (workshop led by Theresa Spandel, on implementation of the CSRD)
Room 3: ESG Measurement and Reporting in Practice (session led by Alexander Stevens)

14.00 - 15.00

Networking Lunch

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