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Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the Board of Management, I too would like to welcome you to Leverkusen.

We are pleased that you could be here today to learn about our company's efforts to promote sustainable development and our new Sustainability Program.

Here we are focusing on three important themes:


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- first, strong alliances for sustainable health care;

- second, innovative partnerships for increased volumes of high-quality food;

- and third, new solutions in climate protection.

We have selected these focus areas because they link our core business with our sustainable development activities.

It is for this reason that we are launching an extensive program with eight international lighthouse projects.

Our objective is to integrate the company's products and our employees' know-how into these projects.

In this way we can make specific contributions to added sustainability in an economic, social and ecological respect, and are strengthening our commitment to sustainability.


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Ladies and gentlemen,
There has been an increasing public focus on sustainable development in recent months.

This is attributable particularly to the ongoing financial and economic crisis.

Lord Ralf Dahrendorf, who unfortunately passed away just a few months ago, aptly analyzed why this is.

The brilliant social scientist and politician did not get caught up in the details of the complex events resulting from the crisis.

Briefly and concisely he described the development of capitalism as a profound shift in mentality.

In the early phase of capitalism, the imperative nature of saving and working dominated the thought process.

Over time people became less and less willing to put on hold the satisfaction of their immediate needs.

The focus shifted to consumption.

In recent decades it became fashionable to finance consumption through credit.

There developed a widespread attitude that enjoyment should come not just before saving, but even before payment.

The politics of easy money facilitated this mentality.

Dahrendorf identified, and I quote, an "extraordinary short-windedness in all actions."

In other words, a lack of sustainability.

This trend was of course particularly common in the United States, but it was also present in many other countries – including here in Europe.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I believe Lord Dahrendorf thus identified a deeper-seated cause of the current crisis, and possibly the most important.

He pinpointed short-term and at times inconsiderate actions – amplified by the wrong incentive systems – as underlying causes of the crisis.

It is partly for this reason that we need to change our mindset: We need to move away from the fatal dynamics of short-windedness toward a new logic of sustainability – in our minds and in our actions.

Ladies and gentlemen,
What does a trend toward more sustainability mean for industry?

The first order of business from our viewpoint is for companies to be led with far-sightedness and the requisite commercial prudence so that they are crisis-proof, competitive and successful in the long term.


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We therefore welcome the clear commitment expressed in the German Corporate Governance Code, which reflects our position:

The code in its most recent edition emphasizes the management board's obligation to ensure the stability of the company and its sustainable value creation in accordance with the principles of the social market economy.

The company must be led in a way that takes into account the interests of the stockholders, employees and other groups linked to it.

We view this balance of the various interests as a central element of sustainability.

We want to act according to social objectives and needs – after all, social acceptance is the basis of all our actions, and is thus crucial to our long-term business success.

We therefore subscribe to a central principle:

We want to balance commercial success with the protection of the environment and the needs of society.


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Ladies and gentlemen,
Responsible action has long been a central objective of our business policy.

This is evident in our program entitled "Bayer: research for a clean environment" in the 1970s and 1980s, in our commitment to the Responsible Care initiative and in our agreements to safeguard employment in Germany.

We published our first Environment and Social Report in 1976 and our first international Environmental Protection Report in 1992.

In 1986 we established our Guidelines for Environmental Protection and Safety – and in 2000 we became a founding member of the U.N. Global Compact.

In 2004 we became the first private-sector company to partner with the United Nations Environment Programme in the area of youth and environment.
As you can see, Bayer has a long tradition of success in sustainable corporate policy.

In the interests of sustainable development, we want to provide economic, ecological and social value through our actions – and this of course also applies to the response to one of the biggest global challenges of our time: climate change.

That's why the development of our Bayer Climate Program – which we presented to you two years ago nearly to the day – was a particular milestone in our sustainable development efforts.

Just a few days after the World Climate Council of the United Nations – the International Panel on Climate Change – presented its closing report, we began implementing our Group-wide climate program in 2007.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Climate change and the necessity of global climate protection remain at the top of the international agenda.

The political framework conditions are also of central importance for the success of all efforts.


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The international climate policy must satisfy four requirements in particular:

First: clear, ambitious and feasible greenhouse gas reduction targets must be agreed.

Second: all major emitters – including particularly the United States, China and India – must be included.

Third: we need fair burden-sharing between industrialized, emerging and developing countries.

Fourth: the political solutions must promote innovation and technological progress as central levers for greenhouse gas reduction.

In this context it is also essential that the competitive position of companies in the industrialized countries is not put at risk.

After all, only then can they invest in the new climate protection technologies that are needed all around the world.

The new German government has encouragingly spelled out in the coalition agreement that it intends to advocate in the negotiations at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen fair burden-sharing that creates comparable competitive conditions and prevents shifts in production to countries that do not focus on climate protection.

The goal for Copenhagen in a few days is to support the politicians in creating an effective and efficient global framework for emissions reduction.

We hope these efforts are successful – yet our own activities are not dependent on this success.

Ladies and gentlemen,
As a socially responsible company, we have always felt we have an obligation to contribute to climate protection and to mastering climate change.


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Two years ago we presented to you three specific targets in this connection.

First: we want to further reduce our CO2 emissions, and have set ourselves ambitious targets through 2020.

Compared to the base year 2005, MaterialScience aims to reduce its specific emissions by 25 percent.

CropScience and HealthCare aim to reduce their absolute emissions by 15 and 5 percent, respectively.

Second: we plan to invest a total of EUR 1 billion in climate-relevant research and development and projects worldwide between 2008 and 2010.

Third: we want to continue growing – with innovative products and processes specifically designed for efficient climate protection and for addressing climate change.

Ladies and gentlemen,
We stand by our goals and are prepared to be judged by how we live up to these promises.
We are making good progress in all areas.

By the end of 2009 we will have realized about two thirds of the investments specified in the Bayer Climate Program.

We have since pressed ahead particularly with the innovation projects.

And we are pleased to be able to report to you today on noticeable progress in this area.


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For example, we have turned the EcoCommercial Building concept into a complete program.

In addition, CO2 emissions can be drastically reduced worldwide with a new technology that we are also marketing externally for producing chlorine from sodium chloride – the oxygen depolarized cathode method.

Dr. Plischke will give you details in his presentation on how our products and technologies make significant contributions to climate protection.

Ladies and gentlemen,
There can be no doubt that energy efficiency is a key to successful climate protection.

After all, only by efficiently using the available resources can we succeed in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As we announced two years ago, by the end of this year we will have subjected 100 of our production facilities – representing some 85 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions – to our new climate check by Bayer Technology Services.

With the help of this new analysis tool, which we also successfully market to external companies, we have identified potential greenhouse gas reductions of some 10 percent on average in the projects analyzed so far.

And we will realize this potential by 2013.

In this connection, we are employing the STRUCTese management system developed by MaterialScience, which for the first time makes it possible to systematically optimize energy efficiency.

This comprehensive steering method, which we also offer on the market, has the potential to establish itself as the industry standard for energy efficiency.

Due to the successful application of the Bayer Climate Check, we have expanded our plans and will evaluate an additional 40 facilities and buildings by mid-2010.

In addition to looking at energy efficiency and greenhouse gases, we will have to more intensively analyze all relevant resources in the future.

We therefore will also systematically examine our production processes with regard to how efficiently the globally scarce resource water, and also raw materials or solvents, are used, which waste products are generated at which volumes, and to what extent recycling is possible.

Ladies and gentlemen,
In connection with the Bayer Climate Program, we this year launched a further significant project: our approach to tackle malaria.


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Experts fear that climate change could cause the number of malaria infections to increase by between 40 and 60 million worldwide, spreading to regions that so far have been spared from the disease.

For many years now, we have been supplying aid organizations with impregnated mosquito nets to protect people in threatened regions from disease-transmitting insects.

In addition, we recently began working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium – or IVCC for short – in the fight against malaria.
Together we aim to assemble a new insecticide research platform for "Public Health Products" and develop new resistance-breaking vector-control substances.

For the first time in Bayer's history, we are opening up our substance library – one of the largest of its kind in the world – for public health purposes.

Ladies and gentlemen,
We are also successfully driving forward the various internal climate initiatives that we have launched to support our program.


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For example, we have introduced CO2 reduction measures in our data centers.

We have also introduced the first modern telepresence systems for conferences so that we can forgo long-distance air travel wherever possible and sensible.

Last but not least, our efforts also focus on our vehicle fleet.

We anticipate that by the end of this year, we will have reduced CO2 emissions in our vehicle fleet by nearly 10 percent compared to the reference year 2007.

We are therefore confident that we will be able to achieve our target of a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from our vehicles by 2012.

As you can see, climate protection and dealing with the consequences of climate change are central elements in our overall sustainability strategy and our efforts to promote sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The awards and ratings we have received for our endeavors also confirm that we are on the right track.


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In recent years the theme of sustainability has become increasingly significant, not least in the financial markets.

Accordingly, the volume of sustainability funds in Europe doubled between 2005 and 2008, and the sustainable investment market is growing faster than the market overall.

Institutional investors such as pension funds are also increasingly taking sustainability criteria into account in their investment decisions.

Our company has already received excellent sustainability ratings from independent institutions on numerous occasions in the past.

This year we were ranked in the "Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index" of the Carbon Disclosure Project as the world's number one company.

This decision was based on the sound and transparent reporting on our climate strategy and greenhouse gas emissions.
With our renewed inclusion, Bayer is the only European company in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry to be listed for the fifth time in succession in the world's first global climate index.

Furthermore, this year again we are listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, one of the world's most important sustainability indices.

Bayer shares are thus among the few German stocks to be represented continuously in this index since it was established in 1999.

This underscores the leading position that our company occupies in our industry worldwide in the area of sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen,
For us, these ratings represent a confirmation and recognition of our efforts – and serve as an incentive to resolutely maintain the chosen path.


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Today we are presenting to you our integrated sustainability concept that addresses three levels:

First: as a member of society Bayer makes important contributions through its innovative products, which are a core component of our business.

Second: also of special importance are our business modalities – in other words the way in which we do business.

The third element of our sustainability concept is our voluntary commitment, comprising the social activities we conduct worldwide – in part through our foundations.

Let me start with our products, which form the basis of our business. With them, we want to be innovative here for the good of humankind.

This is fully in keeping with our mission statement "Bayer: Science For A Better Life."

At the same time, we subject our products to an evaluation that takes into account their economic, ecological and social impact.

In this endeavor we are supported by a renowned institute.

With this evaluation and the aforementioned tools to steer our production processes, we pursue a common goal:

Through increased transparency and elevated awareness, we want to further raise the sustainability contribution of our products and processes.

In addition to our products, our commitment to sustainability also includes our own conduct and the promises we make toward our business partners.

In recent years we have further developed our compliance program and accentuated it with numerous initiatives such as our efforts to fight corruption.

What's more, the safety of our production plants continues to play an important role.

And we are aware that the tremendous commitment of our employees plays a central part in ensuring the success of our business.

Bayer therefore maintains a responsible human resources policy that begins with vocational training and covers the entire working life of our employees.

Our employees benefit from an extensive range of job-related training opportunities, pension plans and health care provision and healthy working conditions. We also strive to promote fair and value-oriented conduct in our company.

This includes participation by the employees in shaping the company.

Ladies and gentlemen,
We also include our suppliers in our sustainability management.

They are not just selected according to price and quality aspects; we also expect them to explicitly uphold ethical, social and ecological criteria that we have spelled out in a special code of conduct.

The third level comprises our voluntary commitment to education, research, science and social issues.

The Bayer Science & Education Foundation supports innovative scholastic projects in Germany that make science learning attractive to children.

The foundation also awards scholarships to students and honors leading young researchers with scientific prizes.

We also maintain four company-owned laboratories for schoolchildren – our "Baylabs" – with which we offer school classes the opportunity to conduct scientific experiments in a highly professional setting.

You can take a look at one of these BayLabs outside in the lobby.

Furthermore, Bayer for many decades has been a partner to "Jugend forscht," a prominent youth research competition in Germany.

Our education initiative "Making Science Make Sense" was launched in the United States in 1995.
In that country more than 1,200 Bayer employees regularly volunteer their time to visit elementary schools and help shape tuition with exciting experiments.

This program has since been expanded to 11 countries on four continents.

In all we make available funding of some EUR 45 million each year for our corporate social responsibility efforts, which include a total of 300 projects.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Bayer Climate Program addresses the three elements of the pyramid that I have presented to you.

Let me focus on the following examples:

- many of our products, such as our thermal insulation materials, contribute significantly to climate protection. Their use prevents more greenhouse gas emissions than their production causes.

- We aim to further reduce emissions with our innovative technologies.

- And with the Bayer Climate Award, which was presented in 2009 for the first time, we honor excellence in climate research.

However, ladies and gentlemen, sustainability of course means much more than just climate protection.


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We consider the growing world population to be a tendency that is rightly described as a megatrend.

A total of 6.8 billion people already live on Earth – a number that continues to grow rapidly.

Experts predict that the world population will total more than 9 billion people by about 2050.

This corresponds to an average population growth of 80 million people each year – or about 200,000 per day.

Although more than half of the world's population is currently less than 25 years of age, the age structure varies very sharply from one region to another.

The aging societies in the West are juxtaposed by young and rapidly growing societies in the southern hemisphere and the Asia-Pacific region.

This trend is creating challenges that we must and will address and overcome.

We want to provide answers to urgent questions concerning:

- innovative medicines for sustainable health care, and

- high-quality food for the rapidly growing world population.

These themes are also prominently addressed by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

At the same time, these challenges provide us with business opportunities.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Sustainable development is recognized as basically meaning that current behavior should be aligned in such a way that the possibilities of future generations are not restricted.

Sustainable solutions can only be achieved if all societal groups work together.

We therefore specifically seek dialogue at the local, national and international levels with politicians, industry and societal groups.

Our lighthouse projects in the areas of health care and nutrition – as in climate change – are based on dialogue and partnership.

Let's start with health care:


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HealthCare is Bayer's biggest subgroup, accounting for about half of our sales.

We research, develop, produce and market innovative products to improve the health of people and animals worldwide.

The products are designed for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases, thus contributing to improved quality of life.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Improving maternal health and reducing child mortality are two of the eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

These goals are becoming increasingly urgent in view of rapid world population growth – indeed, according to a new study by the German Foundation for World Population, the population of Africa will double by 2050.

As the world market leader in oral contraceptives, we want to specifically contribute to mastering this challenge with our products and know-how.

The associated lighthouse project, which Dr. Plischke will explain to you in more detail, is thus focused on the theme of "family planning."

Our activities also focus on so-called "neglected" diseases such as Chagas disease and sleeping sickness, which present considerable challenges worldwide with millions of deaths each year.

We also make valuable contributions in the area of nutrition:


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Agricultural productivity must be increased in order to improve global food supplies.

This challenge is intensified by changing lifestyles and nutritional habits, climate change and the competition for natural resources.

As a leading company in its industry, CropScience develops innovative crop protection solutions and new crop variants.

Modern cultivation methods and plant biotechnology offer further potential for increasing crop yields and improving stress tolerance – which is also of importance in view of climate change.
With the closing of the purchase last week of U.S.-based biotech company Athenix – our biggest acquisition this year – we are expanding our options for providing growers around the world with new technologies and complete agricultural solutions, from sowing to harvesting.

The focus here is not just on increasing crop yields, but also on improving quality – in other words on providing sufficient quantities of high-quality food products.

In this way we contribute to safeguarding food supplies worldwide and support the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger and poverty.

Ladies and gentlemen,
We need sustainable agriculture.

And here too, sustainable concepts require close cooperation between partners in the production of feed and food products.

Our "Food Chain Partnership" concept is a key contribution – through training, services, products and cooperation between partners, from production to transport, storage, processing and distribution.

The close interlinking of all these activities benefits everyone involved – including consumers, who receive affordable, high-quality food products in sufficient quantities.

One of our lighthouse projects deals with vegetable cultivation in India – it enables participating farmers to better meet local and international quality criteria, thus giving them income security.

A further lighthouse project in the area of sustainable agriculture focuses on improved rice cultivation.

Dr. Plischke will explain our lighthouse projects to you in more detail in a moment.

These projects are also designed to make clear how important partnerships and innovations are for solving global challenges.

Innovation has always been at the center of our corporate strategy.


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After all, innovation capability is the deciding factor in the global arena.

Only through innovation can we generate the growth that is essential for safeguarding the lasting success of our company.

This remains a critical guideline that we follow with a suitable level of investment.

And it is another reason why in 2009 we are investing more than ever before in research and development.

Our R&D budget for this year is EUR 2.9 billion.

That is an unprecedented level in Bayer's 146-year history.

For us, innovation is also the driver of sustainability.

And we will only be able to overcome the major challenges of our time with innovative products, processes and technologies.
That's why we also endeavor to continually highlight in the public debate the value contributions innovations make to solving problems.

This requires, however, the support of politicians, who, when engaging in public discourse, unfortunately all too often limit themselves to a consideration of the uncertainties and risks that are linked to innovations.

Ladies and gentlemen,
With the development of the Bayer Climate Program, we reached a key milestone at the end of 2007 that we have since resolutely implemented.


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We have decisively reduced our greenhouse gas emissions and have set further ambitious targets.

What's more, we have developed innovative technologies that we also offer externally.

Our new Sustainability Program combines these and other important activities in central areas of this field.

The lighthouse projects of our Sustainability Program are specific examples of the implementation of our plans; they make key contributions in economic, ecological and social respects.

More than 15 million people worldwide directly benefit from these projects through improved health care and from an economic and social perspective.

They also represent measurable ecological goals:

By introducing further measures to increase energy efficiency in our production facilities worldwide, we aim to reduce our annual greenhouse gas emissions by some 350,000 metric tons through 2013.

A further 250,000 ton cut will be achieved by 2020 through the introduction of the oxygen depolarized cathode technology.

Furthermore, the marketing of this new chlorine production technology based on common salt could even enable greenhouse gas emissions to be further reduced by more than five million metric tons.

And last but not least, we are strengthening our own business through our sustainable development efforts.

Ladies and gentlemen,
We already contribute to mastering key sustainable development challenges and to realizing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals with many of our products.

This applies

- to sustainable health care,

- to the provision of sufficient quantities of high-quality food,

- and to climate protection and our way of dealing with the effects of climate change.

And our R&D investment is focused on developing further solutions to these global challenges.

We believe this impressively documents our commitment to sustainability.

As you can see, sustainable development forms an integral part of Bayer's corporate policy, which is geared toward long-term success and high-quality solutions.

We are aiming for sustainability in everything we do.

To achieve this we adhere to a holistic principle:

We are investing in the future – for our own benefit and that of society as a whole.

Thank you very much.


Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.