2023 needs to be a year of uncommon collaboration

A turbulent year draws to a close and, to be honest, 2022 was one of the most difficult years I have ever experienced. The world is still suffering the consequences of a global pandemic, and the second Russian invasion of Ukraine has marked a real turning point, or ‘Zeitenwende’, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it – the world will never be the same as it was before. The outlook on the coming year seems bleak: Russia’s war in Europe, a global food crisis, droughts and floods, the energy crunch, supply chain constraints, inflation, and the growing polarization in societies and international relations will continue to present what feel like insurmountable challenges.

Looking at the outcomes of #COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh and #COP15 in Montreal, however, I also feel energized. On both occasions, despite the unfolding geopolitical power shift, the world’s governments achieved meaningful consensus. The world added adaptation to the important GHG reduction-driven mitigation agenda on climate and elevated the protection of biodiversity to a new level by agreeing on meaningful 2030 targets. All of this happened despite the world’s population now exceeding 8 billion humans. We as a species possess the incredible skill of collaboration. When I see this ability at work, often at its best in the form of uncommon collaboration, my optimism is fueled.

Here are my thoughts about this year, on what I think may come next, and on what gives me hope for progress in 2023.

What’s working: public and private collaboration to tackle the food crisis

Global food security remains at risk. Heat waves in South Asia and China, a dry summer in Western Europe, and a severe drought in East Africa linked to higher temperatures caused by climate change have constrained the supply of food commodities. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has exacerbated the problem on a global scale. Prior to the war, Ukraine was exporting wheat, corn, and oils to many parts of the world, particularly the Middle East and Africa. The World Food Program has traditionally relied on Ukraine for half of its grain. Disrupted by the war, Ukraine’s agricultural powerhouse is in dire need of international support.

Decisive action and international collaboration by public and private partners are preventing the worst from happening. For me, this is a great example of international cooperation, something we should value more.

The UN deal on the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, called a “beacon of hope” amid the ongoing war by UN Secretary António Guterres, is working. Since late July, the UN-supported Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by Turkey between Russia and Ukraine has allowed exports of more than 12 million tons of grains and other foodstuffs from the Ukrainian ports that had been blocked since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February. Over 40 percent of the cargo was maize, the grain most affected by blockages in Ukrainian granaries at the beginning of the war. It had to be moved quickly to make space for wheat from the summer harvest. As the UN points out, this grain deal benefits people in need, as it helps to calm markets by stabilizing spiraling food prices.

Or to give you another example: The European Union is working with Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland as well as private transport operators to establish “Solidarity Lanes” as alternative routes for food exports via rail and truck transport, investing EUR 1 billion to ease logistical bottlenecks and establish a more stable connectivity for exports of Ukrainian agricultural goods by road, rail, and through Black Sea and Danube ports.

We at Bayer also do our part as a key player in the global food system. First, Bayer is fully committed to Ukraine’s future and supports President Zelensky’s reconstruction plan. To cover the demand for corn seed, for example, Bayer is investing EUR 30 million from 2022 onwards in its Pochuiky seed plant, raising its capacity and creating jobs in the region. This year, Bayer has donated seeds to support 1,250 small farmers who had difficulty in accessing inputs to grow food on nearly 30,000 hectares. We continue to support our 700 colleagues in Ukraine and aim to invest significantly in the country over the next decade, mainly to rebuild Ukraine’s agricultural system.

Enabling Ukraine’s farmers to plant and harvest will positively impact global food security.?

And before I go any further, I would like to share a thought that has been on my mind for months. I am convinced that our commitment to Ukraine has not only helped the people on the ground but has also helped Bayer employees find hope again in these difficult times. In many conversations I have repeatedly noticed how much helping motivates and unites people, and that is something we should not lose sight of in 2023.

Our commitment, of course, goes beyond aid to Ukraine. You can count on us to support public-private partnerships to make the global food system more resilient, such as the Global Alliance for Food Security set up by the World Bank and the G7 this year. Across the world, Bayer is investing heavily in new agricultural solutions for farmers. We spend more than EUR 5 billion annually on research and development, EUR 2 billion of which go into agricultural solutions that increase productivity, reduce tilling, and minimize harvest losses.

What’s ahead of us: more decisive action on climate change, water, and nature

As I mentioned in my previous #120months article on my return from COP27, the climate conference in Egypt, despite otherwise mixed results, saw significant progress on adaptation.

I am encouraged by the fact that the world’s governments unanimously agreed on the way to move forward on climate change adaptation, improving resilience for people living in the most climate-vulnerable communities by 2030.

This is a welcome and overdue achievement to build on in 2023.

To adapt to climate change, the world must look to forests. Forests provide a life-support system that is becoming increasingly important, not only by storing carbon and preserving biodiversity, but also by providing water, food, and timber as well as stabilizing local climates for millions of people.

Businesses need to support forest protection. Bayer is part of a coalition with non-governmental organizations as well as suppliers and customers in our value chain. We are taking a clear stand to call for enforced forest protection laws and to drive sustainable intensification of agriculture, for example in Brazil. Bayer has joined the LEAF (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance) Coalition. In 2021, the Coalition mobilized US$ 1 billion in financing, kicking off the largest ever public-private effort to protect tropical forests. ?

It is without doubt troubling to see how the current energy crunch has led to a scramble for oil and gas. What gives me hope is the unbreakable upward trend for investment in renewable energies. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is certain that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will accelerate the world’s consumption of fossil fuels to a peak by 2030. In its Annual World Energy Outlook published in October, the IEA projected investments in clean energy to rise by about half by the end of the decade to EUR 2 trillion a year, more than double the amount invested in fossil fuels today. The IEA warned that green energy investments must rise even faster to EUR 4 trillion annually if net zero targets are to be met. However, in my conversations here in the United States, I observe a widespread conviction that the enormous federal spending via the Inflation Reduction Act will catalyze green energy investments much faster than predicted. Confronted with gas supply cuts from Russia, Europe is also speeding up the shift to wind and solar power.

As you all know if you follow our work, Bayer has decided to fully integrate sustainability into our business strategy. This is now enabling us to double down on decarbonization. We have already fully decoupled our operations from Russian gas. By the end of next year, we will have achieved 50 percent green electricity and put contracts in place to add additional capacity to procure two-thirds of our power from renewable sources.

The looming water crisis is no less dramatic than the food and energy emergencies.

Water is on the global agenda but needs much greater attention.

In many places around the world where communities are suffering, people understand the value of water. I have written on this extensively in this series, most recently in July together with Mina Guli. By the time of the start of the UN World Water Conference in New York in March 2023, Mina will have run 200 marathons around the world with Bayer right alongside her as a campaign partner. Bayer will not only support Mina in her commitment; for me, the UN World Water Conference is one of the most important items on my agenda for next year, and this year we have been working hard internally on how we, as a company, can make a decisive contribution to combating the water crisis across the entire spectrum, from our suppliers to ourselves and our customers. Stay tuned on this one!

What’s inspiring: Kenya, the Philippines and better access to health

A fascinating arena to watch in 2023 is Kenya. Many Kenyan farmers will begin planting genetically modified (GM) maize seeds early next year, after President William Ruto lifted the country’s ban on GM crops in October. Kenya’s agricultural authority will distribute the seeds for free. It expects the seeds of the higher-yielding, drought- and insect pest-resistant maize to be planted on half a million acres, some 200,000 hectares. This is a sizeable area. Maize is Kenya’s staple food and is grown on most Kenyan smallholder farms.

The so-called “TELA” GM maize has been developed in a public-private partnership led by the Kenyan-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation, in partnership with Bayer and researchers in Mexico, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda. New transgenic hybrids will be made available to seed companies through a royalty-free license.

Kenya’s example will be instructive to show how GM crops, thoroughly tested by local researchers and authorities over the years, can help curb shortages caused by several failed rainy seasons if brought to farms at scale in Sub-Saharan Africa. ?

In the Philippines, another exciting innovation is finally being brought to farm-level cultivation after three decades of research and delays: Golden Rice. You may have heard about the story of Golden Rice. As early as 1992, Ingo Potrykus, a researcher working at ETH Zurich at the time, launched the idea of combating nutrition-deficiency diseases through rice enriched with vitamin A. Together with his colleague Peter Beyer from Freiburg, Potrykus’ team inserted genes into rice so that beta-carotene, a substance used by the body to make vitamin A, was formed in the rice grain. Vitamin A is key to human vision, growth, cell division, reproduction, and immunity. The first such rice prototype was presented in 1999.

Numerous studies were conducted to prove the safety of Golden Rice, but resistance from campaigners and bureaucratic hurdles delayed its cultivation. This year, the Philippines finally went ahead in tandem with research organizations, cooperating with smallholder farmers in provinces with a high incidence of malnutrition. The first harvest of the shiny yellow-gold rice reportedly went smoothly. Families keep seeds for sowing next year. A long-term study has been launched to examine the extent to which Golden Rice can reduce vitamin A deficiency and the resulting fatal diseases.

I am very happy for Potrykus, who at the age of 89 can finally witness how his scientific idea has triumphed over ideology. The pioneering approach of the Philippines will certainly encourage more researchers to combat malnutrition by biotechnology. Let’s just imagine for a moment how many other staple crops or fruits could potentially be modified to contain valuable nutrients.

Nearly 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to essential vitamins and minerals. Biotechnology in agriculture is one path to address this problem. Another one is personal healthcare and access to nutritional supplements. As a Life Sciences company, Bayer is looking at such global challenges holistically.

Currently, over half of the world’s population does not have access to health services. If today’s trajectory continues, five billion people will be left behind by 2030. Through initiatives like our Nutrient Gap Initiative, to name just one example, we are expanding access to vitamins and minerals into underserved communities and cooperating with partners to bridge the nutrient gap, aiming to reach 50 million people annually by 2030. In 2023, we will continue to establish partnerships with reputable NGOs to help us reach moms-to-be and their babies with nutrient intervention. We empower healthcare providers and people in underserved communities with the information they need to understand good nutrition and a balanced diet.

Adapting to global warming is also a major public health issue. Rising temperatures are associated with a growing incidence of many different health complications such as heart and lung conditions, mental illness, and allergies, especially among older populations and the poor. We are thinking hard about how we can help people withstand the impact of climate change by advancing public health, including sustainable self-care and access to medicine.

What’s promising: an opening for biotech in Europe

To conclude my upbeat outlook for the coming year, let me turn to Europe. The European Union is opening up to modern biotechnology. In mid-2023, the European Commission intends to propose new legislation for plants produced by New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). The initiative will cover new technologies like gene editing that have been developed since 2001, when the existing EU legislation for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) was adopted – more than 20 years ago.

It has been widely acknowledged that the current legal equivalence of NGTs and GMOs thwarts innovation in the EU. NGTs like gene editing enable targeted modifications in the genomes of crops that resemble changes that could also occur naturally or are brought about by conventional breeding methods. Unlike conventional genetical modification, these changes are highly precise and therefore much faster to achieve. With the help of NGTs, plants can be developed that are more resistant to pests and diseases, require less land and water, and have higher nutritional value.

I sincerely hope the future EU rules will enable such innovations, unleashing the full potential Bayer can bring to advance sustainable agriculture, bringing us all a bit closer to achieving the UN Goals on Sustainable Development.

In this outlook for 2023, I could and certainly should have mentioned numerous other examples. The Indian G20 Presidency, the UN General Assembly in September 2023, COP28 hosted by the United Arab Emirates and the preparations for COP16 on biodiversity (2024) will be important opportunities for us to build broad coalitions to advance mitigation, adaptation, and access, to ensure that humanity can live well within the planetary boundaries.

I wish all you all the best for 2023. Keep collaborating!