In keeping with its social commitment of environmental protection in every sphere, the Bayer Group worldwide has initiated the Young Environmental Envoy Programme (BYEEP). The programme seeks to educate youth on the global effort to save and protect the environment.

Bayer has been sponsoring the project since 1996, and has since then played a major role in developing the program. In 1997, UNEP Regional Office for Asia Pacific adopted the project under its umbrella. BYEEP entails young people visiting Bayer headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany, to learn about sustainable development and various methods of environmental protection. Under the Bayer Young Environmental Envoy program, selected students go to Germany on a weeklong study tour to experience how environmental protection is practiced by people, government and industry in a highly developed country.

 

Bayer India has been participating in this program since 2002.In India, Bayer invites students to send a write-up on their contribution towards improving the environment along with practical examples of projects undertaken in order to participate in the competition. Short-listed students are then called for an interview, to gauge their knowledge and communication skills.

Two selected candidates who have worked in their areas towards environmental protection are selected to attend the week long visit educational trip in Germany.

In 2008, 50 Young Environmental Envoys from 18 countries on four continents were selected for the educational trip.

So far, some 8,000 young people have applied for a place on the program and almost 400 have been invited to visit Germany for an educational trip.

The study trip gives young people from around the world an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the principles and practice of modern environmental protection in Germany. The Young Environmental Envoys visit various Bayer sites and talk there to experts on the environment. The program also includes excursions to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection and AVEA, a waste processing and disposal facility in Leverkusen. The aim is to give young people a fuller understanding of what role industry, authorities and private households play in the field of environmental protection and how they interact. Discussion sessions and an international exchange of ideas among the young people round off the program.

It is hoped that when the Environmental Envoys return home they will be able to raise awareness of sustainable development by passing on the impressions, experience and insights they have gained. Many former participants in this Bayer initiative now have jobs where they play a key role in environmental protection in their home countries.