Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: Bayer is strategically engaged on climate change policy, with positive top-line positions on climate action. The company's engagement on specific climate policies has become increasingly positive in recent years, but it maintains some ambiguous positions in certain policy areas. Bayer retains membership to several industry associations which engage negatively on climate policy.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: Bayer is broadly supportive of ambitious climate action in its top-line messaging, however it is less supportive of the need for government regulation to respond to climate change, citing industrial competitiveness. In its 2024 Sustainability Highlight Report, published in March 2025, Bayer supported the goals of the UN Paris Agreement. Bayer supported limiting global warming to 1.5°C in line with the IPCC and the EU’s 2050 climate target in its 2024 Climate Advocacy Review, published in April 2025. However, in February 2024, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson signed the Antwerp Declaration, which advocated that EU policymakers avoid implementing detailed and prescriptive regulation under the EU Green Deal. Additionally, in a December 2023 publication, Bayer stated that climate policies such as the EU Green Deal should not affect national or regional competitiveness and advocated for the simplification of regulation in the EU.
Engagement with Climate-Related Policies: Bayer seems to broadly support specific climate policies. In its 2024 Climate Advocacy Review, published in April 2025, the company stated support for an EU 2040 GHG emissions target of 90% compared to 1990 levels, in line with recommendations from the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. The company seems to be supportive of emissions trading. In its 2024 Climate Advocacy Review, published in April 2025, it appeared to support an extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to the agricultural sector. In the same report, Bayer stated it had engaged directly with policymakers in Brazil on the establishment of the proposed national carbon market framework.
In a joint letter from October 2023, Bayer supported a global renewable energy production target at COP28. However, in its 2024 Climate Advocacy Review, published in April 2025, Bayer advocated for weaker policy measures to safeguard the impact of Sustainable Aviation Fuel production on carbon stocks and supported the expansion of EU Renewable Energy Directive Annex IX on intermediate crops and crops grown on severely degraded land - a position misaligned with the original ambition of the policy.
Engagement with Land Use-Related Climate Policies: Bayer has consistently stated support for policy to sustainably intensify agricultural production, but without taking a clear position on the dietary transition, for example in a December 2023 EU Elections Manifesto and in its 2024 Climate Advocacy Review, published in April 2025. In the same Climate Advocacy Review, Bayer supported a role of nature-based carbon removals in the EU 2040 Climate Target, in line with scientific recommendations.
In a comment submitted to the US policymakers in July 2024, the company supported crop-based biofuels/bioenergy but did not acknowledge the need to manage sustainability risks or the limitations to GHG emissions savings.
Positioning on Energy Transition: Bayer appears broadly supportive of the energy transition, however with some ambiguous positions. In a March 2025 Ceres initiative, the company advocated directly to federal policymakers to maintain the Inflation Reduction Act's climate investments, including the tax incentives toward electric vehicles, clean energy, and building electrification. However, in February 2024, Bayer signed the Antwerp Declaration, which called for additional EU funding for “clean technologies” and advocated to expand the scope of the EU Net Zero Industry Act, without clarifying which technologies should be included.
In a September 2024 publication, Bayer supported the transition to greater use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) as a carbon removal method, whilst appearing to recognize its limitations and uncertainties. Bayer supported an increased role for biofuels, including to decarbonize transport, however without recognizing the limitations and uncertainties of biofuels or stating the need to transition to a renewables-based system in July 2024 comments to US policymakers.
Industry Association Governance: Bayer published a review of its alignment on climate policy with industry associations in 2024. The review disclosed a framework for assessing alignment and linked the LobbyMap profiles of 8 industry associations actively engaging on climate policy, however, for its other industry associations it did not describe engagement activities beyond top-line positions. Bayer retains membership to several industry associations which are negatively engaged on climate change policies such as the EU Emissions Treading System (EU ETS) and EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), including BusinessEurope, the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) and the Federation of German Industry (BDI), and has influential positions on the board of associations such as the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic).
Bayer has published a partial account of its industry associations' positions and engagement activities on specific climate-related policies. The company linked the LobbyMap profiles of 8 industry associations actively engaging on climate policy such as Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia (ANDI) and Cefic. However, Bayer excludes material evidence of indirect climate policy engagement identified by InfluenceMap's database for more than 3 industry associations. For example, Bayer did not disclose multiple pieces of material evidence by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI) such as a November 2024 statement from that advocating for measures that risk fossil fuel lock-in, a June 2024 press release that appeared supportive of the Brazil Forest Code, and a July 2024 comment that supported the scale up of renewable energy. It also did not disclose comments to policymakers submitted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in February 2024 that appeared to advocate for the use of biomass over fossil fuels as an auxiliary fuel as an energy input for waste incinerators (Assessment of corporate reporting, made in June 2025)
A detailed assessment of the company's corporate review on climate policy engagement can be found on InfluenceMap's CA100+ Investor Hub here.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q3 2025.