Global commitment to sustainability/Financial Calendar

Social responsibility and sustainability are integral to Bayer’s corporate policy. This commitment is also evidenced by the company’s participation in numerous initiatives and projects around the world. (Logos relating to a selection of these activities appear at the end of this page, the activities are described below.

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Bayer has long practiced the concept of Responsible Care, and in 2006 was among the first signatories to the new Responsible Care Global Charter. A member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development since 1997, Bayer is also a founding member of German industry’s sustainable development forum “econsense.” Bayer is active as an organizational stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative.

The company places maximum importance on climate protection. For example, in 2006 Bayer again received the “best in class” award of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and was ranked as the best-performing chemical company, retaining its place in the CDP’s Climate Leadership Index. Bayer was also one of the 17 co-founders of the climate protection initiative “3C: Combat Climate Change.”

Bayer is a founding member of the Global Compact initiative of the United Nations, actively promoting its principles through numerous projects. In Brazil, for example, Bayer supports the Abrinq Foundation in its efforts to combat child labor and also contributes projects of its own to the Brazilian government’s “Zero Hunger” program. Bayer’s partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is widely regarded as setting a new trend in public-private partnerships. One of the joint activities, the program known as “Bayer Young Environmental Envoy in Partnership with UNEP,” has now been extended to 17 countries on four continents.

In 2006, Bayer funded nine research projects on global drinking water protection out of the Global Exploration Fund it set up jointly with National Geographic, the world’s largest non-profit scientific organization.

For years, Bayer has also been an active member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is committed to the fight against these three epidemic diseases. The company is cooperating with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, a U.S. non-profit organization, to develop a new remedy for tuberculosis.