Position on Deforestation and Forest Degradation
The rising global population and growing pressure on natural ecosystems, including deforestation and habitat loss, present significant challenges. As a global leader in healthcare and nutrition, Bayer is committed to tackling these issues. Preserving forests and natural habitats also aligns with our vision for regenerative agriculture. The following sections outline our efforts to protect forests and habitats across our value chain.
Background
Forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change, fostering biodiversity, and enabling water and soil conservation. Millions of people rely on forests for food security, livelihoods and energy sources. While the rate of forest loss and degradation has slowed globally since 2000, they still contribute to challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. Deforestation and forest degradation are complex with multiple causes that differ from region to region, but agriculture has historically been among the major drivers. Overall, deforestation is driven by the need to provide food, feed, energy, timber and housing for a global population steadily growing in numbers and wealth. To meet this growing demand without increasing the pressure for deforestation, yield gaps need to be closed around the globe through the adoption of modern agriculture and forestry technologies and practices. Fulfilling the demand in one region should not occur at the cost of deforestation in another region.
Bayer’s Position
Within our area of influence, including working with our farmer customers and within our supply chain, we seek to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. We want to make a significant contribution to protecting existing forests. We do not have all the solutions to challenges as big as deforestation. However, we continuously expand our collaborations with relevant local and regional organizations that complement our technologies with their knowledge and networks. We also participate in coalitions and partnerships across the value chain. Wherever under our control and our influence, we aim for zero deforestation.
Our downstream contribution
Engaging with our downstream value chain is vital for Bayer. Empowering our farming customers to achieve sustainable intensification can play a key role in reducing the pressure for expanding crop land.
Agriculture innovations can help reduce the need to expand crop production areas into natural habitats such as woodlands and forests. Innovation in seed varieties, crop protection products and digital farming solutions combined with stewardship measures and training on responsible use enable farmers to achieve higher yielding crops on existing land. These innovations can do this with lower inputs of land, water, energy or crop protection resources consistent with Bayer’s commitments to reduce by 30% the environmental impact of crop protection and greenhouse gas emissions on our customers’ fields, by 2030.
Bayer has committed to help 100 million smallholder farmers increase their livelihood in farming. We believe that the increase in productivity will decrease the need to convert forests into agricultural land or to find additional income in forest exploitation.
Bayer initiated the carbon program and continues to develop it across 10 countries. For example, the Bayer PRO Carbono program in Brazil is one of our pillars. In 2023, around four million bags of soy produced as part of Bayer's Pro Carbono Commodities Program are delivered together through partners, with measured carbon footprint and assured deforestation-free traceability. You can find a reference to its first launch here. Participating soybean growers register carbon emissions that are 70% lower than the national average in Brazil and 80% lower than the global average per ton of soybeans produced. You can find more information about these programs on our country websites in Brazil and Argentina as well as in our Crop Science Sustainability Progress Reports.
The Amazon Research Institute (IPAM) and the Woodwell Climate Research Center will delve into the interrelationship between agriculture and natural vegetation conservation in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Supported by investments from Bayer, the researchers will assess the value of the ecosystem services that forests, and regenerative agricultural practices provide to agriculture. This research will contribute to improve landscape planning, helping farmers support forest conservation. Learn more here.
Through digital farming technologies, Bayer is looking into ways of supporting and incentivizing farmers to protect existing forests and natural habitats on their land by helping them to better evaluate the benefits of preserving habitats and forests versus farming marginal or less-productive land.
Own operations contributions
We perform a voluntary ecological assessment for capital expenditure projects exceeding €10 million to assess and reduce any impact.
Our upstream contributions
Bayer is taking significant strides towards environmental sustainability by accelerating the implementation of zero deforestation in its supply chain and enhancing traceability systems. In our pursuit of sustainable upstream value chains, we are intensifying our focus on forest risk-related products and actions. Our commitment extends to promoting sustainable production, transparency, traceability, and certification within our upstream operations. Learn more about our commitment to sustainable procurement (Sustainability in Procurement & Bayer Supplier Code of Conduct).
Bayer has committed to apply and monitor 15 socio-environmental assessment parameters of its soybean and corn seed supply chain activities in Brazil. This monitoring covers our Agroeste seed production area (Bayer direct brand) and our own corn seed production. Those standards include assessment of non-overlapping with indigenous or quilombola* lands and conservation units, slave labor list, list of areas embargoed by environmental authorities (IBAMA, SEMA, and ICMBio), as well as environmental compliance with the Forest Code and assessments from the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR).
Contributions beyond our supply chain
As part of our climate commitments for 2030 with the focus on emission reductions, we are investing into climate contribution. Carbon contribution is a process by which funds are directed to projects that help avoid or remove global emissions beyond the own value chain. Our engagement in voluntary carbon markets is purely additional to our reduction activities. By 2030 we want to contribute the same volume we have in remaining emissions within our own operations. Applying clear criteria on these projects, we want to support voluntary carbon markets. To be transparent in activities is of utmost importance for us at Bayer. We publish details of every transaction here.
Bayer shares the value of international cooperation to promote viable measures in sustainable development and environmental protection. This is why we support forest protection instruments in trade agreements as long as they are science-based, equitable and safeguard an open and non-discriminatory trading system.
Sustainability is core to how we do business at Bayer. We apply the same rigor to setting and measuring our sustainability targets as we do our financial ones. As a science and innovation company, we understand that any commitment to innovation must be linked to sustainability.
Driven by our mission of health for all, hunger for none, we believe we can work together to address the interrelated challenges of preserving biodiversity, ensuring food production and addressing climate change.
*A quilombo is a Brazilian hinterland settlement founded by people of African origin, and others sometimes called Carabali. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were maroons, a term for escaped slaves.
