Swiss company Syngenta plans to invest $2bn over the next five years to develop products and technologies that help farmers in tackling agriculture-induced climate change
Image: Syngenta’s office building in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Courtesy of Syngenta.
Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta has announced its commitment to invest $2bn over the next five years to help farmers prepare for and tackle climate change.
Syngenta stated that the investment will support its sustainability goal of developing at least two technological breakthroughs to market each year, which can reduce agriculture’s contribution to climate change, harness its mitigation capacity.
The $2bn of investment will be directed towards such programmes which offer differentiated benefits or breakthrough technologies that can enable a step-change in agricultural sustainability including land usage, soil health and integrated pest management.
The company has formed a multi-year collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and is developing strategies to identify and test innovations and technology that can benefit farmers and deliver positive environmental outcomes.
The collaboration is claimed to be grounded in promoting soil health, increasing resource efficiency and habitat protection across major agricultural regions worldwide.
Syngenta also has plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2030
Syngenta CEO Erik Fyrwald stated that investing in research and development for sustainable agriculture will be matched by a drive to reduce the carbon intensity of its operations by at least 50% by 2030. Reducing its carbon footprint will support its goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Fyrwald said: “Agriculture is now at the front line of global efforts to tackle climate change. Syngenta is committed to accelerating our innovation to find better and ever safer solutions to address the shared challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss.”
The Nature Conservancy CEO Sally Jewell said: “Achieving conservation at scale will require bold action from the private sector. As businesses increasingly recognize the risks of climate change and the benefits of sustainability, we welcome the opportunity to contribute our science and expertise to help transform business practices.
“Syngenta’s investment in innovation is an important step toward a future where people and nature thrive.”
Earlier this year, Syngenta announced Accelerating Innovation commitment to address the challenges faced by farmers due to climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss.
Last month, the company acquired The Cropio Group, an agtech company with a presence in over 50 countries, but with a primary focus in Eastern Europe.
The company offers end-to-end software solution offering imaging, recordkeeping, and equipment tracking. About 10 million hectares of crops are currently managed using Cropio.