Overview
Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Plischke
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Bayer Management Board member Dr. Wolfgang Plischke on climate protection and other sustainability projects:
Responsible action at all levels
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| Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, im Bayer-Vorstand verantwortlich für Innovation, Technologie und Umwelt sowie die Region Asien/Pazifik |
We are confronted with a wide range of demands. In the current situation in particular, however, our society is faced with a major challenge – I’m talking about climate change, which will undoubtedly be the dominant ecological problem worldwide in the long term. Bayer has maintained an intensive commitment to climate protection in the past in the context of its sustainable development strategy. Nonetheless, it is essential that we contribute our expertise as an inventor company and problem-solver to work even more strongly in this area in the future. Against this background, we have established the Bayer Climate Challenge Program, which will definitely result in further innovative and economic approaches.
When do you expect to see the first results here?
I anticipate that specific findings and proposals will be presented by this fall. They will most likely involve further efficiency improvement for our processes – but I expect that they will also identify opportunities for more strongly linking successful sustainability management to our business.
What role do innovation and technology play in this connection?
A very important role. Just look at our innovative products such as thermal insulation materials in buildings and refrigeration appliances, as well as lightweight materials in cars. Here we see considerable further development potential for a significant contribution to energy savings and resource conservation.
These examples involve Bayer MaterialScience. Do the other subgroups also offer products that will help to protect our climate in the long term?
I can give you a number of examples. For instance, products from Bayer CropScience play an outstanding role in the cultivation of many crops that are used as renewable and thus climate-friendly raw materials for a new generation of fuels: biofuels. In addition, our InVigor® canola seed is an ideal candidate for producing biodiesel because of its very high yields and the composition of its oil. These are merely two of many examples where climate protection plays a major part.
Environmental scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the global water crisis, which will become more and more acute as a consequence of climate change. Are you active in this area?
Yes, and in different ways. First, we are constantly searching for means of further reducing water consumption in our production processes. And secondly, our research can also help – for example through the genetically engineered production of seed for stress-tolerant plants that require less water or can more easily cope with high temperatures. And we are also participating in the search for solutions to the global water problem beyond our own research activities.
What efforts are you specifically referring to?
I’m talking about our partnership with National Geographic, with whom we are jointly promoting innovative ideas to conserve drinking water via the Global Exploration Fund. Out of a total of 94 projects submitted, we selected nine research projects for financial support. Together with our partner, we are making available a sum of €250,000 for this purpose.
The Bayer Foundations too for a long time have played an important role in connection with the issue of support for science. Why were two new foundations recently established?
With the Bayer Science & Education Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation, we aim to intensify our support for education and science, as well as for social programs, and to pool our previous foundation activities. Through the Bayer Cares Foundation, we have established a special program to support charity work – particularly by our employees – in the communities where our production sites are located. The Bayer Science & Education Foundation supports school curricula and vocational training in the focus areas of science and medicine through scholarships and endowed professorships. This foundation also supports scientific symposia and important school projects at the Bayer sites.
Bayer has also been supporting scientific education outside of its foundations. Will this change?
Absolutely not, especially in light of the fact that we are very successful in this area. One example is our international “Making Science Make Sense” program. Several thousand Bayer employees in the United States volunteer their time to visit schools and demonstrate to the children how exciting science can be. Similar programs exist in Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland and, since 2006, France as well, among other countries. In the United States we have been honored on several occasions for this initiative. In Germany, Bayer for many years has supported a prominent youth research competition. We also offer school classes the opportunity to supplement their science curricula with practical experience in laboratories specially equipped for this purpose. We plan to further expand these activities.
With a further Bayer Group initiative – “Triple-i” – you aim to strengthen the innovative capability of the company as a whole. The goal here is to use the creativity of Bayer’s employees around the world for the development of new business ideas. Have you been successful in this endeavor?
Absolutely. We are very satisfied with the extremely high level of participation. More than 2,200 ideas have been submitted in the just over one year since the initiative was launched. This response underscores how well our employees are accepting the initiative. With their inspiration and ideas, they support the innovation capability of the enterprise as a whole. And since this initiative has been so successful, we will maintain it. We are planning to organize special Triple-i events and intensify our interaction with those submitting ideas.
In closing, let’s talk about the numerous joint projects you organize with the United Nations Environment Programme unep. The focus in recent years has been on the Young Environmental Envoys and the children’s painting competition in particular. Are there new activities that are especially important to you?
All of our projects are important to me, but I’d like to talk about two of them in particular. We are already looking forward to welcoming about 200 young people from more than 100 countries to Leverkusen at the end of August for a unep youth environmental summit. I also consider the current “Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign” initiative of our partner unep to be very special. unep aims to plant one billion trees in 2007. Bayer will support this goal with several hundred thousand trees.
Why do you consider this initiative to be so special?
On the one hand, the planting of a tree has symbolic, life-giving meaning; on the other, it is also highly relevant to climate protection. Through this initiative, we are upholding our responsibility as a good corporate citizen. We are addressing the current challenges, and particularly climate change, as a sustainably operating and innovative company – with a view to the creation of value-added both for the company and for society at large.
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