Companies that ignore climate change will be out of business in 10 years: Bayer's Berninger

There are companies that cannot afford to ignore the risks associated with climate change; if they do, they will be out of business in 10 years. This is the case for companies in the agricultural sector, says Matthias Berninger, Executive Vice President of Global Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability at Bayer , “High temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns are disrupting everything...there is no time to waste.”

Berninger was a Green Party legislator and a deputy minister in the German government. He has been at Bayer since 2019. “We're not talking so much about climate change now. Tariffs have become the main topic, and rightly so. The problem is that the risks associated with climate change haven't disappeared. On the contrary, they've worsened, partly because very bad decisions continue to be made.”

Bayer's relationship with climate change is unique. In the pharmaceutical business, it doesn't have the same level of urgency as in the agricultural sector. "When you work in a pharmaceutical company, you can develop a very successful business without focusing on climate change. When you're in agriculture, that's not an option. You have to put sustainability at the center . That's where the biggest threats lie, but also the greatest business opportunities. I'm convinced that solving major sustainability issues is big business."

Not that changes in temperature don't pose challenges for the pharmaceutical sector, clarifies this German engineer born in Kassel and living in Washington. "Extreme heat causes cardiovascular and kidney problems. The challenge here is to help people have a better quality of life in heat and climate conditions we've never experienced before."

This executive previously worked at Mars, an American food company. “I wouldn't say the difference is between Europeans and Americans. It's not a matter of geography, but of mindset. There are even many Chinese companies that are leaders in sustainability. There are giant companies that had a sustainability mindset and have abandoned it due to pressure from their investors. I'm thinking of some of the major oil companies.”

The position of director or vice president of sustainability has changed a lot over the course of the century, Berninger reflects. "At first, companies created this position as a way to better respond to external pressures—from society, environmental groups, government agencies, legislators... Over time, it's evolved and is no longer so closely tied to external pressures. The role of a director of sustainability is to develop new business models. That's why I have more work these days than ever, even though there's less public conversation about sustainability issues."

The opportunities and challenges for businesses relate to actions in different fields, he explains: there are mitigation and adaptation, as well as efficiency in electricity production and consumption. "Can we increase our growth rates and reduce our emissions? It's one of the big questions. In the case of food production, the issue is how to have the right production in the right place, with changes in rainfall patterns... increases in temperature and frost. What happens in electricity is fundamental; the future will belong to the countries that succeed in this area. Even more so with the amount of electricity required by Artificial Intelligence ."

What should we do, as a planet? At some point, the conversation with Matthias Berninger turns to questions that are almost metaphysical: “One of the most important questions for humanity is whether we will be able to overcome situations with a high level of conflict. The ability to understand what the other side wants is more important than the ability to develop technical solutions. I don't downplay the importance of technological development. We are a company that invests heavily in R&D. What I mean is that we have to pay close attention to how and why these solutions are implemented, and that has to do with communication processes.”

In the conversation, he twice quotes a quote from the American writer Mark Twain: "What gets you into trouble is not what you don't know, but what you think you know that isn't true." Following on from this quote, he says: there are things we simply need to unlearn, arguing, "We have to prepare for a new paradigm and understand that it's a paradigm that will be here for a relatively long period. Adaptation is difficult and is complicated because the vast majority of leaders have only known the paradigm that emerged in the early 1990s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. That world no longer exists."