Bayer Corporation was honored at a special ceremony this week by the Rachel Carson Homestead Association that kicks off a yearlong series of special events commemorating the centennial of the birth of author and ecologist Rachel Carson.

Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and innovative materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany.

Throughout the centennial year, Bayer is also helping to sponsor a number of special environmental education programs organized by the Homestead Association.

"Bayer employees are proud that we as a company take action that supports the public interest and demonstrates corporate citizenship that benefits humankind," said Dr. Attila Molnar, President and CEO, Bayer Corporation. "In meeting our responsibilities to society, Bayer relies on its core values of improving quality of life while harmonizing commercial efficiency, ecology and social commitment."

The objective of the event is to highlight how commitment to environmentally sustainable practices can make a tangible difference in the health, quality of life, environment and economic viability of local, regional and global communities.

"We applaud Bayer Corporation for continuing to take 'green steps to a sustainable future,' by making permanent, measurable changes in behavior and policies that promote Rachel Carson's environmental ethic," said Patricia M. DeMarco, executive director, Rachel Carson Homestead Association. "As a forward-thinking company, Bayer clearly understands that by committing to this challenge, it will help build conditions for a more sustainable, healthy world."

More than a decade ago, Bayer set an ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from more than 400 facilities worldwide in absolute numbers by 50 percent from 1990 to 2012, while simultaneously increasing manufacturing output. Since 1990, Bayer has bettered the greenhouse gas emission targets specified in the Kyoto Protocol and cut direct greenhouse gas emissions worldwide by more than 70 percent.

Through technical improvements and structural changes, Bayer also has cut its worldwide energy use by 26 percent between 2000 and 2005. The Carbon Disclosure Project, a coalition of more than 200 worldwide institutional investors, lists Bayer as "Best in Class" in worldwide climate protection.

Bayer was one of the first members of the Chicago Climate Exchange --the world's first and America's only voluntary, legally binding greenhouse gas reduction and trading system for emission sources in North America and Brazil.

Outside reporting agencies confirm Bayer's record. The company is represented in the most important relevant indices, such as the Climate Leadership Index, the Dow Jones World Sustainability Index (continuously since it was first established in 1999), its European counterpart, the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index, and the FTSE4Good series.

NewsClip: Institutions Honor Environmental Pioneer Rachel Carson

4/20/2007