Performance Report

Corporate social responsibility

Our voluntary corporate social responsibility program is the third level of our sustainable development concept, alongside the long-term shaping of our value chain and the sustainable management of our products and services. Our corporate social responsibility program focuses on four key areas: Education and Research, Environment and Nature, Health and Social Needs, and Sports and Culture. In this context, we continuously adapt our approximately 300 projects – on which we spent roughly €45 million in 2007 – to new framework conditions: We evaluate the success of the activities, strengthen their content focus and expand successful projects to include additional countries.

The Bayer Foundations: Supporting science and social needs

In 2007 we combined our foundation activities within the “Bayer Science & Education Foundation” in order to strengthen our focus area Education and Research. In connection with the new Bayer sports strategy, we redeployed €10 million from our sports advertising activities, making this sum available to the newly introduced school support program. The resulting foundation revenues of up to €500,000 that are generated annually benefit schools in the communities near Bayer’s German sites. Although the revenues from the increased endowment will not be available for the first time until the end of 2008, the Foundation began supporting school projects already at the end of 2007. In the first support phase, for example, 20 schools near Bayer’s sites received a total of around €400,000 to promote innovative, hands-on scientific and technical instruction. This was made possible by an additional donation by Bayer AG to the Foundation. We also supported 21 dedicated science and medical students through scholarships worth a total of €142,000. In addition, two scientific prizes, each carrying a purse of €50,000, were awarded to leading German researchers: The Hansen Family Award 2007 went to Professor Magdalena Götz, who conducts research into neurobiology at the Institute of Stem Cell Research at the Helmholtz Association in Neuherberg, Germany, and is also a teaching professor at the Physiological Institute of the Medical Faculty of Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. And Professor Thomas Carell of the Institute for Chemistry and Pharmacy at Ludwig Maximilian University was presented with the Otto Bayer Prize at the beginning of 2008 for his groundbreaking DNA research.

The “Bayer Cares Foundation,” which was also newly established in 2007, supports the voluntary social activities of Bayer employees and private citizens. Our proven disaster aid activities can now also be found under this umbrella. In 2007 Bayer provided emergency aid for cyclone victims in Bangladesh and made available €100,000 for the rebuilding of infrastructure. Medicines and insecticides with a total value of US $ 350,000 were donated to flood victims in Mexico, and Bayer also provided €150,000 to help limit the damage caused by the bush fires in Greece.

Bayer Science and Education Foundation	Bayer Cares Foundation
Bayer foundation for the promotion of science and education	Bayer foundation for the promotion of social and environmental activities
To sustainably strengthen education and research and to promote excellence, particularly in segments that innovatively link the areas of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials.	To sustainably improve living conditions in the communities surrounding the Bayer sites and help meet basic social needs, particularly through projects aimed at helping people to help themselves and strengthening volunteerism.
School support Scholarship programs Scientific awards Foundation professorships and symposia	Volunteering programs International social programs Disaster aid

Partner in sports and culture

Bayer remains a dedicated supporter of recreational, youth and disabled sports. We provide annual funding of more than €14 million to the 27 company clubs. In addition, the “Herbert Grünewald Foundation for the promotion of sporting opportunities for disabled people” continues to support charitable organizations dedicated to the integration of disabled persons through sports. In the scope of the partnership renewed with the German Disabled Sports Association in 2007, Bayer will serve as the official sponsor both of disabled sports in Germany and of the German Paralympic team in Beijing in 2008.

Bayer’s traditional involvement in cultural activities will also remain an integral element of our social responsibility program. The efforts of our Cultural Affairs Department, which celebrated its centennial in 2007, were recognized with a special honor in December 2007: For its project “A Century of Bayer Culture,” the company was presented with the award of the “Freedom and Responsibility” initiative of the leading associations of the German economy, of which German Federal President Horst Köhler is patron. At the award ceremony, Jürgen Thumann, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), had special praise for the way Bayer links its cultural program with the communities surrounding its production sites.

Major CSR activities at our production sites

It is very important to us that our corporate social responsibility efforts are aligned to the special needs existing at the various sites and coordinated locally.. For this reason, in addition to its centrally steered support activities, Bayer implements numerous local projects and programs around the world that are directly managed by the country companies within the framework of the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

One example is Brazil: Despite its economic success, this country is characterized by tremendous inequality and serious social problems. In 2007 Bayer invested €2.6 million in social projects in Brazil, of which €400,000 was spent in the city of Belford Roxo, where we maintain a production site and have been addressing social needs since the early 1990s. Together with local inhabitants, we have since assembled an extensive aid network: We motivate socially disadvantaged children to regularly attend school through acceptance into our soccer academy, distribute lunches free of charge in schools and pre-schools together with citizen’s initiatives, support vocational training for young people and educate the population about dangerous diseases. Since December 2006, furthermore, representatives from the communities of Belford Roxo and São João de Meriti have regularly met with Bayer employees on the Community Consulting Board to exchange information on safety, health and environmental protection in the area surrounding the site and to discuss corresponding action.

Communication is also a top priority for Bayer at all its sites. After all, openness and transparency are central elements of Bayer’s corporate policy. The company aims to address important social issues and problems in dialogue with citizens. The concept of the Communication Center (BayKomm) at company headquarters in Leverkusen is also based on this commitment. It is a multimedia experience, meeting place and discussion forum in one. Since July 2007, visitors to BayKomm and company employees have also been able to learn about the Bayer Group’s corporate social responsibility program in a special exhibition room.

We also help raise educational standards and make the communities surrounding our production sites more attractive through our “BayLab” student laboratory program and our long-standing commitment to “Jugend forscht,” a youth research competition in Germany. The new “BayLab plastics” – our plastics laboratory for the senses, which we opened in Leverkusen in 2007 – introduces schoolchildren to the world of plastics using an interactive approach. For more than 10 years now, our “Making Science Make Sense” learning program has contributed to strengthening the future orientation of our sites. As part of this initiative, more than 1,000 Bayer employees in the United States alone volunteer their time to visit schools in order to awaken young people’s enthusiasm for science and steer them toward attractive, future-oriented professions. We expanded the successful program in 2007 to include Colombia, India, Italy, Singapore and Taiwan, in addition to the existing initiatives in France, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom. The activities of the Bayer Science & Education Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation are also closely linked with our CSR efforts at our production sites. Examples here include our school support programs and our support for volunteering projects (see for information on our contribution to regional economic development

Bayer – an international partner for sustainability

Our local efforts are supplemented and strengthened by our international collaborations. Since 2004, for example, Bayer has been working together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to support environmental projects for young people around the world. In addition to joint project management, Bayer provided funding of €1 million plus additional material donations in 2007 for the approximately one dozen projects. One highlight in 2007 was the third “TUNZA International Youth Conference,” to which Bayer welcomed young people from around the world to Leverkusen between August 26 and 31, 2007, under the slogan “Technology in Service of the Environment.” This marked the first time that a private-sector company had hosted the youth environmental summit, during which Bayer and UNEP extended their alliance for a further three years. The two partners agreed to expand their projects on a global basis, with Bayer consequently increasing its annual financial support by €200,000 to €1.2 million. An overview of our sustainability efforts worldwide can be found here.