With regard to consumers and end-users, we report on our 100 million targets through 2030.
Targets for managing material negative impacts, advancing positive impacts, and managing material risks and opportunities [S4-5]
Our 100 million targets are a central element of our sustainability performance; here we focus particularly on the needs of consumers and end-users in low- and middle-income countries and in underserved communities to help improve their quality of life. Interventions are defined as the provision of products or services by us or our noncommercial partners such as nongovernmental organizations. Our partners must meet admission criteria defined by us to be considered for the 100 million targets. For example, partners must follow the same KPI definitions and have conducted a due diligence process with regard to the quality of reporting. All partners undertake to grant us full access to their data history, calculation rules and control processes. To best understand the influence of our initiatives in connection with the 100 million targets, we work either directly with consumers and/or end-users – for example through surveys – or with experienced representatives and experts such as the members of the Bayer Sustainability Council. For more details on the inclusion of stakeholders, please see the section “Interests and views of stakeholders [SBM-2]” in Chapter A 4.1 General Information on the Sustainability Statement.
Aside from the audit by our external auditors, no external validation of our 100 million targets was conducted. To monitor and review our 100 million targets, we are currently formalizing controls as part of the Internal Control System over Sustainability Reporting (ICSoSR).
Supporting 100 million smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
As one of the global leaders in agriculture, and in accordance with our sustainability strategy, we want to support a total of 100 million smallholder farmers in LMICs by 2030 by improving their access to agricultural products and services, including in collaboration with our partners. To achieve this, we are increasing our range of business activities and strategic initiatives tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers. We reached the number of smallholder farmers stated below:
Base year 2019: 42 million
Status 2020: 45 million
Status 2021: 49 million
Status 2022: 52 million
Status 2023: 53 million
Status 2024: 52 million
Status 2025: 53 million
As this metric is defined specifically for our Crop Science business, we cannot rely on standardized measurement methods. We have developed our own methodology based on available and reliable data and conservative assumptions. Three channels contribute to the objective of supporting 100 million smallholder farmers: a commercial channel that provides smallholder farmers with Bayer products via local distribution channels in a country, a partnership channel (noncommercial) in which we support smallholder farmers together with partners, such as through the offer of digital information and financing solutions, and a digital channel that offers digital advisory services geared to smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers reached through several channels are only counted once. The number of smallholder farmers in the commercial channel is determined by calculating the total number of supported farmers per country and crop based on sales and market data. Farmers who use several of our crop protection or seed products are only counted once. The number of smallholder farmers reached out of the total number of farmers supported is determined based on the respective share of smallholder farmers in the market.
For each noncommercial partnership, the outreach to smallholder farmers is determined based on information provided by the partner. For digital services, the outreach is based on smallholder farmers’ active usage of our mobile service offerings during the fiscal year. We correct for possible overlaps within and across the channels using overlap factors. The total number of smallholder farmers supported is calculated by adding up the number of smallholder farmers reached through commercial products, noncommercial partnerships and digital services. In 2025, we further developed the measurement methods by adding the digital initiatives.
Together with our partners, we supported 53 million smallholder farmers in LMICs with our products and services in 2025. Although the outreach of our commercial efforts in the Asia/Pacific region continued to be restricted by market- and weather-related factors, we increased our total outreach by one million smallholder farmers compared with 2024. The moderate increase we achieved despite these challenges was due particularly to the strong performance of our noncommercial partnership projects in Africa.
Enabling 100 million women to gain access to modern contraception
In accordance with our strategy to improve access to healthcare, we aim to fulfill the need of 100 million women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for modern contraception by 2030. To address the challenges associated with facilitating access to contraceptives over the next decade and reach our target of enabling 100 million women to access modern contraceptives, we continuously strive to increase our production capacities and expand our partnerships. We reached the number of women stated below:
Base year 2019: 38 million
Status 2020: 40 million
Status 2021: 41 million
Status 2022: 44 million
Status 2023: 46 million
Status 2024: 51 million
Status 2025: 68 million
For this KPI, we use measurement methods based on the models of USAID, an independent agency of the US government that is primarily responsible for the administration of civilian development aid. We have defined a methodology based on available and reliable data and conservative assumptions. Our measures to cover women’s need for modern contraceptives can be divided into two channels: the first channel comprises the supply of the market with our contraceptives. Access to the products is ensured partly by way of the distribution activities of company headquarters, e.g. through national governmental tenders or multinational supply agreements, and partly through the distribution activities of our respective country organizations. The second channel is a partnership channel based on the number of women in LMICs who use modern contraceptives due to family planning campaigns supported by us through partnerships. The products used here are not limited to our brands, but instead generally cover a broad range of manufacturers. For the calculation, the volumes of contraceptives sold are extracted for both channels and classified as short-acting or long-acting methods. The short-acting methods offered by us include oral contraceptives and injections, while the long-acting methods comprise intrauterine devices and implants. The sales are multiplied by the number of product units contained in a pack to obtain the sales volumes in units per product category and country. An LMIC filter is then applied to the sales data to determine sales in LMICs.
In a first step, the partner provides data on its outreach. In a second step, analysis is then conducted to establish whether normalizations are required, such as an adjustment to reduce overlaps between the channels. To determine the conclusive number of women in LMICs who cover their demand for modern contraception through the measures supported by us, the outreach from product supply and the outreach from the partnership are added together. The risk of overlaps between commercial and partnership KPIs is mitigated in the calculation, as individuals benefiting from both approaches are only counted once. In 2025, we further developed the measurement methods by expanding the digital initiatives.
We currently provide access to modern contraceptives to 68 million women in LMICs and thus reached 17 million more women than in 2024. This strong increase was attributable particularly to the sale of our contraceptive active ingredients to other producers, who are thus enabling more women in LMICs to access contraceptive products. This in turn improves the general availability and continuous supply of contraceptives in LMICs.
Supporting 100 million people in underserved communities with self-care
In line with our strategy for improving access to healthcare, we want to support 100 million people in economically or medically underserved communities with our self-care interventions in 2030. To achieve our sustainability target, we are, for example, adapting our brands, products and solutions to meet the medical, pricing, packaging and distribution needs of people in underserved communities. We have expanded our affordable portfolio across regions and increased its availability in channels where lower-income consumers shop. We reached the number of people stated below:
Base year 2019: 41 million
Status 2020: 43 million
Status 2021: 46 million
Status 2022: 49 million
Status 2023: 51 million
Status 2024: 53 million
Status 2025: 82 million
Our measures to improve access to self-care can be divided into two channels: we use commercial channels that supply people in underserved communities with our self-care products or services as well as partnerships in which we support people in underserved regions together with noncommercial partners.
In the commercial channel, the calculation processes are divided into three steps to determine the number of people in underserved regions whose access to self-care is supported by us. In the first step, the sales volumes of brands and pack sizes suitable for underserved regions are quantified. Overlap effects resulting from multiple purchases by the same consumer are then taken into account. The final step involves extrapolating the proportion of underserved people in the total population of the respective countries, which is multiplied by the number of individual consumers reached in the countries as determined in the second step. In the partnership channel’s first step, the partner provides data on its outreach. In the next step, analysis is conducted to establish whether normalizations are required due, for example, to divergent reporting periods between us and our partners. To determine the number of people in underserved communities whose access to self-care is supported by us, the number of people reached via the commercial channel is added to the number of people reached through the partnership channel. The risk of overlaps between commercial and partnership KPIs is reduced in the calculation by only counting individuals benefiting from both approaches once. In 2025, there were no adjustments made to the measurement methods.
As regards access to medical self-care, we made further progress in 2025 in accordance with our original target. Therefore, we meanwhile support 82 million people in economically or medically underserved communities in their everyday healthcare through our interventions. The strong increase compared to 2024 is particularly attributable to the introduction of new strategic products in India, through which it was possible to make a significant contribution to accessibility.