Notes from Davos: How do we deliver on the decade of action?

The United Nations has named the 2020s the “decade of action” to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.

With ten years left to achieve Zero Hunger in a world in which over 820 million people go to bed hungry each night, there is an urgent need to redesign our global food systems for the better. But we know that fighting hunger cannot come at the expense of our planet. For the first time ever, the top five risks in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2020 were all climate-related. Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos and in other cities across the world, many voiced concerns that not enough has been done to tackle these issues.

Source: WEF Global Risks Report 2020

While at the World Economic Forum, I had the opportunity to discuss and develop an action agenda for food systems transformation with thought leaders across industries, as well as government and NGO representatives. From these discussions, I’ve taken away three focus areas that will help us move towards a more sustainable future. I am determined to deliver on these areas with the work we are doing at Bayer.

1)   Rethinking Innovation:

Together, agriculture, livestock and deforestation produce nearly a quarter of global emissions. But in the decade of action, agriculture will be part of the solution to the environmental challenges we face.

At Bayer, innovation will cut the ecological footprint of our agricultural portfolio. We are committed to a carbon-zero vision for agriculture and to reducing the environmental impact of crop protection by 30% by 2030 to help restore and retain biodiversity, combat climate change, and make the most efficient use of natural resources.

We can do this by helping farmers make smarter, data-driven decisions in real-time. Digital tools like Climate FieldView enable farmers to use resources such as water, energy, fertilizer and pesticides in a much more targeted manner in their fields. In the future, demand for food produced close to cities will increase. For this reason, we also need to invest in new forms of agriculture such as vertical farming, which is a sustainable, high-tech solution for growing more fresh, local produce much more efficiently than today. Success here depends on plant breeding innovations that enable specific crops to adapt to this new production technique, which we intend to develop.

2)   Rethinking Business Models:

Today and in the future, we must rethink the way we do business and take responsibility for our planet’s health. Profits and environmental sustainability need to be interwoven across the food chain. Agriculture has a pivotal role to play in carbon sequestration. At Bayer, we have the vision of a future marketplace in which climate-smart business models reward farmers for capturing carbon in the soil and increasing biodiversity. We are working hard on developing a carbon accounting framework that can help accelerate progress for farmers all over the world.

The development of carbon markets in agriculture could help to empower smallholder farmers by providing them with financial rewards for applying sustainable agronomic practices, which in turn will allow smallholders to reinvest in their businesses. In Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia—where smallholders produce 80% of the food supply today—the FAO estimates that agricultural productivity will need to increase by over 100% to meet the projected demand for food.

3)   Rethinking Collaboration:

This is not just the decade of action, it’s the decade of collective action. To combat climate change, protect biodiversity and provide food security in a sustainable manner, we need unprecedented collaboration and open dialogue. There is not just one answer to the challenges we face, and there certainly won’t be just one protagonist.

Bayer is involved in several projects under the World Economic Forum’s Food Action Alliance, a coalition of organizations and initiatives committed to collective action that will strengthen the impact of agricultural value chains to produce food efficiently, sustainably and at scale. The alliance offers a global network for sharing innovative approaches and implementing solutions. We’re also involved in the Better Life Farming Alliance, a long-term partnership aimed at enabling smallholder farmers to transform their farms into commercially viable and sustainable farming businesses. Through trainings and workshops, farmers are introduced to modern agricultural practices that increase productivity sustainably. As an example, the initiative has helped 8,000 green chili farmers in Uttar Pradesh and 2,000 tomato farmers in Jharkhand in India to triple their sales revenues and improve their sustainability footprint at the same time.

As we rethink innovation, business models and collaboration, sustainability needs to be at the heart of everything we do. I believe that in agriculture, our decade of action will be defined by our collective ability to transform our global food systems to benefit people and planet. It won’t be easy, but after the energizing discussions I had in Davos last week, I’m confident we’re up for the challenge. Let’s put our minds together to shape what’s possible in the next decade and focus on actions that make a difference.