Life science company Bayer announced today that it has had its GHG emission reduction targets approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). The approval is in line with SBTi’s most stringent standard category of limiting warming to 1.5°C.

SBTi was formed as a collaboration between CDP, World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), with the goal to establish science-based environmental target setting as a standard corporate practice. Achieving approval of targets by SBTi is a significant milestone for companies’ sustainability efforts, with many companies joining the initiative, but only slightly over 430 receiving approval globally to date. Of these, only around 150 have achieved approval within the 1.5 °C category.

Matthias Berninger, Head of Public Affairs, Science & Sustainability at Bayer, said:

“Through our commitment to sustainability, we aim to actively help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We now have scientific confirmation that our CO2 reduction targets meet the most ambitious requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement. As a company with a solid scientific background, we feel it is important to be part of the Science Based Targets initiative to ensure our contribution to climate protection is grounded in science and is traceable and transparent.”

SBTi lists Bayer’s emission reduction targets as follows:

Bayer AG commits to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 42% by 2029 from a 2019 base year. Bayer AG also commits to reduce absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services, capital goods, fuel and energy related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, and business travel 12% by 2029 from a 2019 base year.

In terms of its scope 3 emissions, SBTi has confirmed Bayer is helping limit global warming to a 2 °C scenario. Bayer’s supply chain efforts are focused on purchased goods and services, investment goods, fuel and energy-related activities, transportation, distribution, and business travel. This includes working with other companies as part of the chemical industry’s “Together for Sustainability” consortium.

Bayer has announced that it intends to implement climate protection measures that even go beyond those endorsed by SBTi. The company aims to be carbon neutral by 2030, which will involve offsetting its remaining emissions. Bayer is also targeting a 30 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per kilogram of yield in large agricultural markets by 2030, by focusing on the most emissions-intensive forms of cultivation in the regions where the company operates.

Werner Baumann, Chairman of the Board of Management and Chief Sustainability Officer at Bayer AG, said:

“In committing to reduce our emissions, we have set ourselves a very ambitious goal. This is a crucial step as we pursue our big target of becoming climate-neutral by 2030. It shows we aim to live up to our responsibility as a leading life science company in the fields of healthcare and nutrition. Climate change poses a threat to the whole of humanity and we need to be absolutely determined in tackling it.”

The company stated that achievement of its climate targets has been integrated into the long-term remuneration package for the Board of Management.