SUSTAINABILITY OFFICERS:

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Feature Company: Bayer Corporation

Sustainability Coordinator/Representative: Valerie Patrick

Employees: 16,300

Individuals impacted: Bayer North America impacts many players along our supply chains including government and non-governmental organizations through our Office of Legislative Affairs and HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment, and Quality) organization, universities through our numerous grant programs sponsoring research & development programs at universities and colleges and through classroom work experiences to enhance various academic curriculum; suppliers, customers, logistics partners, involvement in trade organizations, and so on. The number of individuals impacted by our North America operations would be thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands.

Notable sustainability projects:

The Bayer Group took first place on the CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) Leadership Index listing in 2009. The Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index is a rating of companies that is produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project which is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 that is dedicated to collect and distribute high-quality information to motivate investors, corporations, and governments to take action to prevent climate change. This award rates companies based on the level of detailed and transparent reporting on their climate strategies and GHG emissions. Bayer has found that a tremendous side benefit of reporting is that it exposes you to new opportunities to innovate.

On April 15th 2009, the Uptime Institute formally presented Bayer with an award for being one of the corporations selected for its first Global Green 100 list. The list highlights the significant energy efficiency achievements of global corporations operating major data centers. Since 2007, use of virtual servers at Bayer has increased from 6% to 38%, with conversion from physical to virtual resulting in average energy savings of about 20% per server. While IT requirements have increased 50% in this time, average power consumed has not. Another factor is the improvement of climate control. Airflow optimization, combined with minimizing excessive cooling, yields a significant cost reduction per server. The overall result is a reduced carbon footprint and increased energy efficiency. The Bayer Data Center Facilities Team expects to see an additional reduction of 63,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per month by shutting down under-utilized uninterrupted power supplies.

Bayer Inc. was selected as one of Canada’s 30 Greenest Employers for 2009, featured in Maclean’s Magazine’s special Earth Day issue. As a leader in the Canadian marketplace, Bayer Inc. understands their responsibility to the communities where they work and live. Some of the unique environmental initiatives defined and implemented by Bayer Inc. employees include the employee-driven Green Matters program, launched in 2007. This program has initiated several projects including Project Zero Waste, Green Roof, Environment Week, Earth Day, Annual Wildflower Planting Day and Clean Up Day.

Bayer has captured the 2009 “Leadership and Achievement in Sustainability” award from the Stop Waste Partnership, a program of the Alameda County Waste Management Authority. Jim Breitlow, Bayer’s Head of Health, Environment and Safety at Berkeley, accepted the award—one of the Bay Area’s most important environmental excellence honors—on October 16th 2009. Documented energy and costs savings include: 86% recycling rate at Berkeley in 2008—up from 82% in 2007; reduction of direct CO2 emissions by 6%--1,000 metric tons--in 2008; florescent lighting upgrades and other efficiency projects at Berkeley and Richmond with annual electricity use reduction of 400,000 kWatts; replacing plastic utensils in cafeterias with Spudware, made from soy and potatoes; and, controlling vegetation at their Richmond site with grazing sheep instead of power mowers.

Bayer North America’s Pittsburgh headquarters received Building and Operating Management magazine’s FMXcellence award in March of 2010. It honors site management teams who achieve environmental sustainability goals. Only 10 U.S. sites received the recognition. Bayer cut site electricity needs by switching to daytime office cleaning, energy-saving light fixtures and vending machines equipped with energy-saving, motion-activated lights. Bayer also installed “cool roof” technology on campus buildings. The technology can cut energy use by as much as 10 percent on hot days. The company uses roof rock from modified buildings for site landscaping. Bayer is one of the first Pennsylvania companies to donate discarded office carpeting to a professional recycling company. To save paper, site office printers default to double-sided printing. In addition, the Pittsburgh site received WHC (Wildlife Habitat Council) Corporate Lands for Learning recertification in 2009 which is third-party validation of the environmental education programs that have been developed for school classes to participate in hands-on science experiments to interact with and learn about Bayer’s Pittsburgh site pond ecosystem and ecosystems for butterflies and birds.

2009 Sustainability Facts at the Bayer Pittsburgh North America Headquarters:

Awards / Recognition

• Employees at Bayer Corporation's Pittsburgh Site received international recognition for their contributions to wildlife habitat conservation at the Wildlife Habitat Council's (WHC) 21st Annual Symposium.  Bayer demonstrated its commitment to environmental stewardship and increasing native biodiversity by achieving Corporate Lands for Learning (CLL) recertification at the Pittsburgh Site.
• Listed on EPA's Green Power Partnership Program.

Reduce Energy Results

• Energy saved by day cleaning equivalent to 2 million pounds/yr in GHG
• Re-lamping lighting upgrade project which uses more efficient lighting techniques, saving energy (1 million pounds/yr. in GHG)

Energy Sustainability Practices Implemented in 2009

• Shifted to directly charging buildings for energy usage rather than to bury utility costs in the square footage rates.  This gave incentive to high energy users to conserve. 
• 28 new vending machines with green features such as motion detectors, that shut the machines off when no one is around.
• Implemented "Think before your print" work practice and awareness education because 45% of everything printed is thrown out after one day.

Recycling Sustainability Results 2009

• Expanded recycling program to include newspaper and magazines, increasing our recycling by 28% over 2008 to 152 tons and 80% over a two year period.

Global Resources saved

• 2,900 Mature Trees - This represents enough saved timber resources to produce more than 83 million sheets of newspaper.
• 700 Cubic Yards of Landfill Airspace - This represents enough airspace to fulfill the municipal waste disposal needs for 9,000 people for one year.
• 1,300 Barrels of Oil - This provides enough energy to heat and cool more than 700 homes for one year.
• Avoided 180 Metric Tons (MTCE) of GHG Emissions - The recycling of these materials prevented these GHG emissions.
• 3,600 Gallons of Gasoline - This represents enough gasoline to drive more than 200,000 miles.
• 953,000 Kw-Hrs of Electricity
• 1,060,000 Gallons of Water

Consistent with Bayer's values on social responsibility, the Pittsburgh Site recently recycled 36,000 pounds of used carpet.  This reduced the Site's environmental footprint by keeping the material out of a landfill.  By recycling carpet, we reduced 10 tons of greenhouse gases being emitted.

Sustainable Accomplishments in 2009

• Reduced 7 million sheets/year of paper by implementing 2-sided printing as a default setting on printers.
• Held a Sustainability Fair on Earth Day that included energy saving tips and e-recycling day for consumer products from employee's homes.
• Installed a "white roof" that reduces energy consumption on Bldg. #2, Machine Area 3 (13,000 sq. ft.)
  

Pittsburgh's Sustainability Officers: Connecting regionally to contribute globally