Our approach to support biodiversity

Focus on addressing the main drivers of biodiversity loss

According to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), more than one million species of animals and plants face extinction, driven by human activity. The most important driver for the loss of biodiversity is land use change, while climate change and pollution also come along with negative impacts. Bayer works on selected initiatives intended to address specific biodiversity-loss drivers relevant to its business and value chain:

Land use change and crop management practices

Agriculture and agricultural production depend on nature – more than any other sector or industry. The dependencies may include water, soil health, weather conditions and ecosystem services (such as pollination, natural pest control, nutrient cycling). 

Bayer explores approaches intended to support biodiversity-related and ecosystem-service-related outcomes while maintaining agricultural productivity, subject to local context and evidence. And to find this balance, we see the biggest opportunity in the modifications of cropping systems towards regenerative agriculture. Unlike conventional farming, regenerative practices offer a way to improve farm productivity and incomes while delivering benefits for nature. We explore cropping-system approaches designed to improve defined resource-efficiency and resilience indicators where supported by data and local implementation conditions. To explore and develop corresponding elements for those systems we work along three different pillars of biodiversity: soil health, habitats and genetic diversity.

Climate

As a science-based company, Bayer has recognized the risks posed by global climate change. Bayer aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and value chain in line with its published climate targets and transition plan. 

Our Climate Transition and Transformation Plan provides an overarching picture of our climate strategy, including key actions for mitigation, adaptation and access.

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.

Bayer develops selected agricultural solutions intended to contribute to emissions reduction and climate adaptation in specific use cases.

Forest conservation to withholding land use and climate change  

Bayer supports selected initiatives and positions aimed at forest-conservation-related outcomes. 

Also, Bayer is a founding member of the LEAF coalition to protect tropical forests. 

Pollution

Bayer consistently seeks to develop and offer crop protection products with a lower assessed environmental impact in defined categories, where supported by the crop protection environmental impact reduction (CP EIR)  methodology and relevant product comparisons. 

To this end, Bayer adopted a methodology for CP EIR and made a commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our crop protection products. The methodology  we adopted relies on two leading, externally developed scientific consensus models to enable a quantifiable environmental impact assessment of crop protection.

Using the published CP EIR methodology, Bayer aims to reduce the treated-area-weighted environmental impact per hectare of its global crop protection portfolio by 30% by 2030 versus the 2014–2018 baseline. Based on the data collected between 2018-2022, we have already managed to achieve a 12% reduction against the baseline. This reduction was mainly the result of changes in our crop protection product portfolio in recent years.

Relevant Group Positions and Commitments

Bayer is committed to conserving and restoring biodiversity within and beyond agricultural fields through our technologies and services. We have spelled out our views and contributions:

• Bayer is committed to the objectives of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, as well as the goals of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, which prescribes the balanced and fair division of use of plant genetic resources.
• We are committed to respecting and fostering human rights along the entire value chain and to reporting transparently on the results of our activities, as described in our Human Rights Policy. 
• We acknowledge that farming, like many other activities, has an impact on biodiversity. Our commitment to conserving and restoring biodiversity within and beyond agricultural fields through our technologies and services is described in our Position on Conservation and Restoration of Biodiversity in Agriculture and Forestry.
• We take the decline of insects very seriously. Being well aware of the importance of insect diversity for global ecosystems and for agriculture, we are dedicated to developing and implementing measures to halt and reverse insect decline. Find out more in Our Views on Insect Decline | Bayer Global.
• Forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change, fostering biodiversity, and enabling water and soil conservation. We want to make a significant contribution not only to protecting existing forests, but also helping to restore lost forest land. Find out more in our Position on Deforestation and Forest Degradation | Bayer Global.
• Bayer is committed to partnering with farmers and others to help sustainably meet the growing demands of the world for protein while helping to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the beef industry through innovation. Find out more in our Position on Sustainable Beef Production.
   

Impacts, Risks, Opportunities, and Dependencies

With €23 billion sales in agriculture in 2023, Bayer is the world’s leading agriculture enterprise by sales, with businesses in crop protection, seeds and traits. 

Therefore, all of Bayer’s

• direct operations in the agricultural business are directly dependent and have impact on nature, including water, soil health, weather conditions and ecosystem services locally as well as globally (regarding effects resulting from climate change).
• purchases of agricultural products are directly dependent while every seed producer locally has an impact on nature. Acknowledging this, all suppliers in the upstream value chain producing agricultural products for Bayer (including seeds production) are dependent on water, soil health, weather conditions and ecosystem services.
• sales in the agricultural business are directly dependent while every farmer locally has a certain impact on nature. Acknowledging this, all end customers in the downstream value chain of Bayer’s agricultural business are dependent on water, soil health, weather conditions and ecosystem services

The material risks regarding nature impacts and dependencies are included in our 2024 Double Materiality Analysis (following CSRD/ESRS). 
Bayer has huge opportunities that are related to influencing, limiting or reducing both the dependencies and impacts of agriculture on nature especially in the downstream value chain. All of our R&D in agriculture is focused on either increasing yield (while not increasing the impact on nature) or to reducing the impact on nature of pesticide use or agriculture in general.
 

Measurement and Reporting

Measurement of biodiversity elements is challenging due the inherent complexity of nature and its interdependences. At the same time, meaningful data and reporting is crucial for management of this multi-layered topic. At Bayer, we carefully investigate current developments related to measurement and reporting and we constructively engage to contribute to science-based advancements. 

Our work in the reporting space is closely linked to the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) of the EU that will serve as our primary framework as we move forward. Based on these requirements, we will report on material nature-related topics in the next Management Report for the full year 2024.

In addition, we strongly belief in the significance of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) as a crucial milestone in scaling up corporate transparency requirements concerning biodiversity and the natural environment. Bayer joined the TNFD and supports nature-related disclosures as a way to drive environmental progress. We believe in playing an active role in delivering a financial disclosure framework that addresses nature-related risks and supports investments in nature-positive outcomes.
 

Governance