Tunza youth environmental conference
focuses on international climate debate

Leverkusen – Climate protection, regenerative energies and modern environmental protection technologies were the topics taking center stage at the Tunza International Youth Conference held in Leverkusen at the end of August 2007. The youth environment summit was hosted by Bayer in the context of its partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), marking the first time that the event has been held in western Europe. For four days, 180 young environmentalists between the ages of 15 and 24 discussed the topic of “Technology in Service of the Environment.”

In workshops and plenary sessions, the participants debated key global environmental issues and their own countries’ environmental agendas. The attendees were also given the opportunity to expand their environmental knowledge through excursions to model environmental projects and facilities in Germany and visits to the waste management facilities at Bayer’s Leverkusen and Dormagen sites. At the end of the conference, the first such event to be organized by a private-sector company, each of the participants planted a tree as a symbolic, personal contribution to the UNEP initiative “Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign.”

In this initiative, UNEP called on governments, organizations and private individuals to actively help tackle climate change by planting a total of one billion trees in 2007. The campaign was a big success, with approximately 1.5 billion trees planted worldwide by the end of the year. Bayer contributed by planting a total of 300,000 trees in several countries.

To continue the successful alliance between the United Nations Environment Programme and Bayer, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and Bayer Management Board Chairman Werner Wenning signed a new cooperation agreement that extends the collaboration by another three years. Bayer will support UNEP’s activities with its own programs and increasing its annual funding of the partnership by €200,000 to €1.2 million.