Bayer Consumer Health — Green transformation at Qidong Supply Center and the race to a zero-carbon factory

Challenge

Amid the escalating climate crisis, Bayer has committed to the Paris Agreement goals by setting a 2050 net-zero vision, with clear targets for achieving carbon neutrality across its manufacturing sites.

As a key production base in China, the Qidong Supply Center confronts three core challenges: the existing plant, built in 1975, suffers from aging infrastructure and high energy intensity, making it ill-suited for long-term carbon neutrality; growth in the pharmaceutical market demands new facilities, requiring low-carbon production from the ground up; and fostering a low-carbon ecosystem across the value chain while building organization-wide sustainability capabilities remains a critical but difficult task.

Solution

Anchored by the Group’s 2030 carbon neutrality vision and China’s dual carbon targets, and guided by the Zero-Carbon Factory Evaluation Standard and ISO 14001, 50001, and 14064 frameworks, Bayer’s Qidong site is pursuing a full-spectrum zero-carbon upgrade — retrofitting the existing plant while embedding next-generation technologies in the new one. At the existing facility: replacing chillers saves 500 tCO₂ annually; a 0.56 MW rooftop solar installation generates roughly 600 MWh/year, cutting 400 tCO₂; automated workshop HVAC controls save 548 tCO₂; building insulation retrofits and solar-powered street lighting cover the site; and 100% green electricity was achieved in 2024 through certificate procurement — resulting in a 3,266 tCO₂ (60%) reduction even amid lab expansion and capacity upgrades.

The new plant, which broke ground in October 2024 with a total investment of RMB 750 million on a 100-mu (6.7-hectare) site, is being built to LEED Gold standards with heat pumps, 1.95 MW of solar PV, heat recovery systems, and water-saving infrastructure; it targets a 50%+ reduction in GHG emissions upon commissioning and 100% carbon neutrality by 2027. On the digital front, an integrated energy-carbon management platform powered by AI optimization and digital twin models will enable unmanned, closed-loop energy operations.

For low-carbon operations, Bayer aims for 100% recyclable packaging by 2030 and has already launched an 80% weight-reduced refillable Bepanthen bottle; seven green process improvements at Qidong save 1,200 tonnes of water annually and recycle steam condensate. On green electricity, Bayer China is leading joint procurement of 32,000–78,000 MWh annually across five sites, and has launched a green transport pilot using natural gas vehicles that cut emissions ~13%, with carbon pricing mechanisms deployed across its supplier base.

Impact & Value

Environmental: Qidong is on track for carbon-neutral operations by 2027; the new plant’s ecological landscape design and water-saving infrastructure support local conservation, while 100% green electricity dramatically reduces fossil fuel dependence and packaging reduction cuts waste pollution.

Social: The project sets a green manufacturing benchmark for the pharmaceutical and consumer health sector and was featured in the CN100 Green & Low-Carbon Supply Chain Casebook; its upstream-downstream emission reduction drive and community environmental programs are accelerating value chain-wide green upgrading.

Economic: Equipment upgrades and energy recovery save over RMB 3 million annually; packaging optimization and green logistics further reduce operational costs; the RMB 750 million new plant investment drives local industrial development and job creation.

Brand: Senior officials including Nantong Mayor Zhang Tong and Provincial Deputy Director Sun Jin attended the groundbreaking ceremony; TÜV Rheinland is providing zero-carbon certification; and logistics partner Rongqing has joined Bayer’s green transport initiative — all underscoring Bayer’s sustainability leadership.