A long tradition of excellence

LEVERKUSEN, Germany — A group of young men and women from tropical Asia try to cover their ears with their gloved hands as a gust of autumn wind blows by. Behind them, another young group, this time from Kenya, tries to do the same. Unaccustomed to cool weather with temperatures approaching zero, the youngsters stay close to each other to keep warm.

The two parties form part of a select group of young environmentalists who are here for a week-long visit to the facilities of Bayer AG. But more than just the weather, these youngsters — some as young as high school students — are here to experience some of the environmental protection measures employed by one of the world’s biggest producers of toxic waste.

Listed by Forbes Magazine as Germany’s 14th biggest conglomerate with assets totaling $49.6 billion and a turnover amounting to $31.3 billion, Bayer has spared no expense to show the world how it disposes of the high volume of waste generated by its chemical factories.

In Bayer, waste disposal is not just a job. It has become a way of life, a part of the company’s long tradition of environmental protection. To let the world know what it is doing and to encourage other people to do the same, Bayer has embarked on a number of projects involving the youth and with the cooperation of other entities concerned with the environment as well.

One such project is the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Program which started in Thailand in 1998. Under this program, Bayer selects from among the best schools in the land not only the brightest but those students who exhibit a healthy dose of concern for the environment. Called Environmental Envoys, these young men and women are whisked to Bayer’s headquarters here in Germany for a week dedicated to environmental protection and sustainable development.

The program has since grown to include Bayer envoys from 14 countries in four continents: Asia — China, Indonesia, India, Korea, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand; South America — Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela; South Africa — Kenya; and Eastern Europe — Poland.

Representing the Philippines were five of the best that the country can offer: Maria Alita Criselle V. Bautista of Ateneno de Manila University, Ryan Anthony B. Buccat of Lorma Colleges in La Union, John Rex N. Jardinero of Palawan State University, Lester Louis L. Lopez of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños and Jeffrey P. Mora of Far Eastern University. These five were selected from among hundreds of aspirants who went through a long and very rigid process.

In welcoming the Environmental Envoys to the company’s headquarters here, Dr. Udo Oels, member of the board of management of Bayer AG, said the program hopes to enhance the Environmental Envoys’ knowledge of the environment and help involve more young people around the world in environmental matters.

Thus far, he said, "200 Environmental Envoys have been invited to visit us here in Germany in the course of the program."

Dr. Oels revealed that since last year, the BYEE program has a new patron — the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). He acknowledged the fact that an industrial enterprise such as Bayer and an environmental institution such as UNEP do not always agree. "However, our experience over the many years that we have been working together has strengthened us in our belief that common goals are best pursued jointly," he added.

He said the partnership between Bayer and UNEP now comprises a dozen joint youth environment programs, BYEE included. All these programs, he said, are in line with the company’s belief that environmental protection is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development because such issues can no longer be viewed in isolation.

Dr. Oels said: "Bayer has a long tradition of environmental protection: we started to analyze the environmental impact of the company’s actions systematically more than a century ago to enable us to identify ways of optimizing production processes."

And the company has been amply rewarded. According to Dr. Oels, output at Bayer has increased considerably over the past 10 years at the same time that the company has been able to achieve a substantial reduction in key environmental parameters such as energy consumption, waste volumes, emissions and wastewater loads.

While a successful business performance accompanied by an improvement in environmental data may be difficult to achieve, Dr. Oels believes that they have managed to find a good balance.

He said the link between ecological and commercial aspects has been enshrined in a binding policy guideline published back in 1980: Comprehensive environmental protection, maximum safety, high product quality and optimum commercial efficiency are factors of equal importance for achieving our corporate objectives.

This, according to Dr. Oels, "has not changed to this day — even though the Bayer Group has changed considerable." And the BYEE program is Bayer’s way of making the world aware of what it has accomplished.