Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, and thus Chairman of this meeting, I hereby open the company's annual stockholders' meeting. I would like to welcome you, our shareholders, the shareholder representatives, representatives of the media, and all other members of the audience. I am delighted that you have accepted our invitation to follow today's annual stockholders' meeting via an audiovisual web simulcast. Ladies and gentlemen, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, the Board of Management has decided again to hold today's annual stockholders' meeting in virtual format.
We made this decision after careful consideration and took the following considerations into account, in particular: the positive experience with the virtual annual stockholders meetings already held by Bayer, the fact that shareholder rights at a virtual annual stockholders meeting largely correspond to those at an in-person event, the items on today's agenda, the fact that a large number of shareholders can participate in a virtual annual stockholders meeting, and last but not least, sustainability issues as well as cost considerations. By opting for a virtual annual stockholders meeting, we are also following the widespread practice of large listed companies. The Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, Heike Hausfeld, and Paul Achleitner from the Supervisory Board, are present in the meeting room. I have appointed Paul Achleitner to chair the meeting if I'm unable to continue.
All the other members of the supervisory board, except for Simone Bagel-Trah, will participate in the entire annual stockholders meeting via a live audiovisual feed. Unfortunately, Simone Bagel-Trah will only be able to follow part of today's annual stockholders meeting via the live audiovisual web simulcast, as she will be attending a relative's funeral. The members of the supervisory board are making use of the provision in the articles of association on virtual participation, which was approved by a large majority at last year's annual stockholders meeting, by following the meeting via a live audiovisual stream. All of the members of the board of management are present. I would like to welcome our Chief Executive Officer, Bill Anderson.
I would also like to welcome our Chief Financial Officer, Wolfgang Nickl, and I'd also like to welcome the entire management team, which consists of Stefan Oelrich, Head of our Pharmaceuticals Division, Rodrigo Santos, Head of our Crop Science Division, and Heiko Schipper, Head of our Consumer Health Division. I would particularly like to welcome Heike Prinz and Julio Triana. They are attending a Bayer annual stockholders meeting as members of the board of management for the very first time today. Heike Prinz assumed the role of Chief Talent Officer and Labor Director on September 1st, 2023. Julio Triana has been a member of the board of management since April 1st, 2024. On May 1st, 2024, he will take over as Head of the Crop Science Division from Heiko Schipper, who is leaving Bayer at his own request. Heike Prinz and Julio Triana will now introduce themselves to you personally.
Dear shareholders, I am pleased to be able to introduce myself to you personally once again today. My name is Heike Prinz, and I have been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since last September. As Chief Talent Officer, I'm responsible for human resources, and I'm also the Labor Director of Bayer AG. I was born in Kirchen, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and studied business administration in Berlin. I studied there in 1986, at what was then Schering AG, which was then taken over by Bayer in 2006. I started my career in the area of women's healthcare, where I held various marketing and sales positions. In 2009, I moved abroad for the first time as head of the Asia Pacific region of this business unit. This was followed three years later by the country management of Bayer Pharmaceuticals in Thailand and Cambodia.
In 2015, I was sent to Asia again, this time to our country organization in Japan, which I became head of two years later. Before my appointment to the board of management, I headed the commercial organization of Bayer Pharmaceuticals in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. Although I have spent my entire professional life to date in the pharmaceutical organization, I was delighted to take on responsibility for Bayer's global HR function. I can contribute my many years of experience as a leader, my knowledge of different cultures, and last but not least, the expectations of the operational business when working with HR. My priority is clear: together with my team, I want to successfully introduce the new Dynamic, Shared Ownership operating model in the group, and thus help to make our company much more agile, significantly improve its operational performance, and strengthen its innovative power.
In a nutshell, to put Bayer back on the road to success, just as you, the owners of our company, but also our customers, farmers, patients, and consumers, our employees, and all other stakeholders can expect from the board of management. I attach great importance to constructive cooperation with the employee representatives in the company, as reflected in the joint declaration on the future of Bayer, adopted at the end of last year. I hope for your trust and support in shaping the future of our company.... Thank you very much. And now I hand over to you, Julio.
Thank you so much, Heike. It is an absolute pleasure to introduce myself to you today, here. My name is Julio Triana. I joined Bayer Board of Management on April 1st of this year, and will take over as president of the Consumer Health Division of Bayer on May 1st. This year, I am proud to celebrate 22 years of working in Bayer. Over these years, I have developed a deep love and admiration for this company. As a leading player in the life sciences space, Bayer's commitment to its mission of health for all, hunger for none, it's unwavering, and I'm extremely honored to be a part of it. Most recently, I was the head of Commercial Operations of Region International for Bayer's Pharmaceutical Division.
I was a senior Bayer representative and president of Bayer Healthcare Holding in Japan, in addition to previous roles in finance, strategy, business development. Before my recent stint with our Pharmaceuticals Division, I spent several years with the Consumer Health Division as well. These last couple of months, I have been working closely with Heike to get up to speed on the business and meet many of the Consumer Health teams. This year, Consumer Health has set forth a very bold ambition: help billions of people to live healthier lives with the most trusted self-care solutions. I'm excited to work towards this goal, aligning our focus on growing ahead of the market, generating strong demand for our iconic, much-loved brands, and fostering innovation and launch effectiveness.
I am also committed to inspiring our teams, unlocking their creative potential through dynamic share ownership, and creating an energetic entrepreneurial environment where they feel inspired by the impact on consumers. On a more personal note, I was born in Colombia. I was raised in the United States and studied in the U.S. and Spain. I have lived and worked in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the U.S., Switzerland, Spain, Germany, and Japan. I'm also married, and I have one son. I'm generally excited for this step in my Bayer adventure, but I know that I couldn't have gotten here without the support, mentorship, and trust of many great Bayer teams, people, leaders, and I'm deeply grateful for your trust as I embark on this new chapter of my career at Bayer.
I am committed to shaping the future of the Consumer Health division and adding value to Bayer, to its shareholders, customers, and consumers. Thank you so much for your continued support.
Thank you very much, Heike Prinz and Julio Triana. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to welcome the notary public, Dr. Marc Hermanns. As in previous years, he will be taking the minutes of the annual stockholders meeting. One of the company's two proxies is also present in this room. Unfortunately, some Bayer colleagues who participated in the last annual stockholders meeting are no longer with us. Therefore, in memory of the Bayer colleagues who passed away last year, and also in memory of all victims of military and political conflicts, I would like to ask for a brief moment of silence. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to the preparation and organization of this annual stockholders meeting. Let us now turn to the formalities and information on the course of today's annual stockholders meeting.
The entire annual stockholders meeting will be broadcast for shareholders and their proxies on the shareholder portal via an audiovisual simulcast. The shareholder portal is accessible via the company's website module for the annual stockholders meeting. As chairman of the annual stockholders meeting, in accordance with Article 16.4 of our Articles of Association, I have also ordered that today's annual stockholders meeting be broadcast in full as an audiovisual web simulcast for interested members of the public. It can thus be followed by anyone without restriction. The opening of the annual stockholders meeting, the speech by the chairman of the Board of Management, and the report by the chairman of the Supervisory Board will be recorded. These recordings will be available on our website after the annual stockholders meeting. Recordings of the broadcast of today's annual stockholders meeting are not permitted.
Once again, this year, we're offering simultaneous interpretation of the entire annual stockholders meeting into English, as well as a live broadcast in sign language. You can select the language setting on the website, website. In addition, we are again offering our shareholders the option of having live speeches in English translated into German by our interpreters. This will enable greater participation by foreign investors during the annual stockholders meeting. Please understand, however, that this is a voluntary service offered by the company. We cannot guarantee the availability or accuracy of the interpretation. As before, if you would like to take the floor in English, you may personally arrange for interpretation into German, which is the official language of the annual stockholders meeting....
As Chairman of the ASM, I have determined in accordance with Section 131(1) F of the German Stock Corporation Act, that the shareholder's right to receive information and ask questions may only be exercised by means of video communication, and thus, as part of a submission. This enables the other shareholders to follow the submissions, questions, and answers at the annual stockholders meeting in a coherent manner. The Board of Management will answer the questions you have asked. If questions relate to the Supervisory Board, I will answer them in consultation with the Board of Management. Should further questions arise from the answer to a question, these may also be asked by any shareholder by means of a request to speak. Voting rights may also be exercised in the usual manner during the annual stockholders meeting via the shareholder portal.
I will take you through the details later on. In accordance with legal requirements, shareholders were also able to submit statements, counter motions, and nominations prior to the annual stockholders meeting. These options were made use of to a considerable extent. We received 3 written statements, as well as 13 counter motions and 9 nominations for the Supervisory Board elections. We published them on the company's website module for the annual stockholders meeting. To allow for more targeted questions, we also published the speeches of Bill Anderson and myself on our website last Monday. By taking these measures, we hope to create a forum that is as conducive as possible for you to enter into dialogue with us, my dear shareholders. I hope that we will all have a constructive discussion today.
If despite all these efforts, there are general technical disruptions during the annual stockholders meeting, I would ask for your patience. In this case, please also follow the instructions on our website module for the annual stockholders meeting and in the shareholder portal. In the event of isolated technical difficulties, please contact the shareholder hotline. The phone number can be found on our website for the annual stockholders meeting and in the shareholder portal. The notice of convocation of today's virtual annual stockholders meeting, together with the agenda and the proposals of the Board of Management and Supervisory Board regarding the resolutions, were published in due form and time in the German Federal Gazette on March eleventh of this year.
The annual financial statements, including the Board of Management's proposal for the appropriation of net profit, the consolidated financial statements, the combined management report, including the explanatory report of the Board of Management on takeover-related disclosure, and the report of the Supervisory Board, have been available on the company's website for the annual stockholders meeting since the annual stockholders meeting was convened. They are also available there today. This also applies to the CVs of Horst Baier, Ertharin Cousin, Lori Schechter, Dr. Nancy Simonian, and Jeffrey Ubben as candidates for the Supervisory Board elections. The new remuneration system for the members of the Board of Management submitted to you for approval and the remuneration report on the compensation of the members of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board are also available on the company's website.
Last but not least, this also applies to the report of the Board of Management on the acquisition and use of treasury shares and the report and other documents relating to the control and profit and loss pooling agreement with Bayer Crop Science Aktiengesellschaft. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare that the annual stockholders meeting has been duly convened in accordance with the law and the articles of association. The list of participants will soon be available on the shareholder portal for shareholders and their representatives who are connected electronically. We will update the list of participants at regular intervals thereafter. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to draw your attention to a few points in relation to the debate and contributing to the discussion.
I would also ask shareholders who wish to speak on one or more items on the agenda to register their wish to take the floor via the shareholder portal early on. This will enable us to allocate the time available to the speakers appropriately, if necessary. As explained in more detail in the invitation to the annual stockholders meeting, it has been possible to register to take the floor and check the functionality of video communication since 9 A.M. today to make it easier for you to follow the annual stockholders meeting throughout. You may also submit questions, nominations, and motions as part of your submission. Requests to take the floor may be made until the speakers' list is closed. After that, you may still file motions via the shareholder portal.
When registering to take the floor, you must provide your name, email address, and a telephone number at which you can be reached today. If possible, please also state the agenda items you wish to speak on. If you wish to file a motion, please also state this along with its contents. This will enable us to determine when your motion is to be dealt with. At the appropriate time, a dialogue box will appear in the shareholder portal asking you to enter the virtual waiting room. Depending on the number of requests to take the floor and your position on the speakers list, this may take some time. We kindly ask of your patience. When you enter the waiting room, you will leave the transmission of the annual stockholders meeting, which is delayed for technical reasons.
In the waiting room, the transmission is no longer delayed, as a result of which you will miss a small part of the annual stockholders meeting, usually 20-40 seconds when you enter the waiting room. Please choose to enter the waiting room at a time that is convenient for you, but also early enough for the functionality of your video communication to be subjected to a technical check. Once I have checked the functionality and called your name, you will receive the go-ahead to make your submission via real-time transmission. Ladies and gentlemen, now for a few remarks on the vote. Voting at today's virtual annual stockholders meeting is still possible by absentee ballot or by authorizing and instructing the proxies appointed by the company via the shareholder portal until the close of voting. I will announce the closing of voting ahead of time.
Until then, you may change your vote via the shareholder portal. I will remind you again in due course, but I would like to ask you now to cast your votes and issue instructions in good time. If you have registered for the annual stockholders meeting with several shareholder numbers, or if you have several proxy cards, you must exercise your voting rights for each shareholder number or proxy card individually, so that all of your votes can be taken into account. Voting results are determined using the addition method, meaning that the yay and nay votes are counted. Abstentions are recorded separately, but have no influence on the result of the vote. Minuted objections to the resolutions of the annual stockholders meeting and complaints about unanswered questions may also be submitted electronically via the shareholder portal.
The same applies to requests pursuant to Section 131, 4, and 5 of the German Stock Corporation Act. As explained in the invitation to the annual stockholders meeting, objections may be filed from the beginning of the annual stockholders meeting until its conclusion. The voting process and the count of the votes are monitored by the notary public, as are the objections, complaints, and requests received in accordance with Section 131, 4, and 5 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The notary reviewed and was satisfied with the functionality and reliability of the technology prior to the annual stockholders meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, following this commentary, we can now move on to the agenda. The agenda, including the draft resolutions, was published in the notice of convocation in the German Federal Gazette on March 11.
You can also find these and other documents on our website for the annual stockholders meeting. As already mentioned, the company received several countermotions and election proposals from shareholders within the statutory period. We published these on our website. They are deemed to have been submitted at the time they were made available. They do not have to be dealt with at the annual stockholders meeting if the person filing the motion or making the nomination is not duly authorized and registered to participate in the annual stockholders meeting. Let us now begin with item one on the agenda, which deals with the financial statements and reports to be presented and the resolution on the appropriation of net profit. I will also call for all other items on the agenda now, however. Allow me to explain some of the items on the agenda now.
The detailed version of the 2023 annual report, including the supervisory board report, the consolidated financial statements, and the combined management report, as well as the parent company financial statements with the Board of Management's proposal for the appropriation of net profit, have been available on our website since the annual stockholders meeting was convened. They can be accessed there now as well. Copies of all documents are available to the notary. The 2023 parent company financial statements were prepared by the Board of Management and approved by the Supervisory Board, and are thus adopted. The consolidated financial statements were also approved by the Supervisory Board. The combined management report was also reviewed by the Supervisory Board and approved without objections.
The Supervisory Board also examined and approved the Board of Management's proposal for the appropriation of net profit, which provides for a dividend of EUR 0.11 per share. The parent company financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, and the combined management report were audited by the auditor. All three documents were issued an unqualified auditor's opinion. The Supervisory Board approved the results of the audit. The auditor also audited the remuneration report for the 2023 financial year, prepared by the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, and issued an unqualified audit opinion for it as well. I will discuss the elections to the Supervisory Board and the candidates proposed to you for election by the Supervisory Board, the remuneration system for the members of the Board of Management, and the remuneration report in more detail when presenting the Supervisory Board report.
After the previous authorization expired yesterday, the Board of Management is to be authorized under agenda item seven to purchase treasury shares, accounting for up to a total of 10% of the company's share capital by April 25, 2029. It should also be possible to use the shares bought back to the exclusion of subscription and other tender rights. In addition, it has been proposed to you that the acquisition of treasury shares accounting for up to a total of 5% of the company's share capital may be implemented by exercising put or call options. For details, please refer to the draft resolutions and the written report of the Board of Management on this agenda item. Under agenda item eight, we ask for your approval of the control and profit and loss pool, pooling agreement between the company and Bayer CropScience AG.
Wolfgang Nickl will provide more detailed commentary on this agenda item in a moment. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my introductory remarks in relation to the agenda for today's annual stockholders meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to hand the floor to Bill Anderson and ask for his report for the Board of Management.
Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome to our annual stockholders meeting. Thank you for joining us. I would like to share with you where Bayer currently stands and what we are doing to make our company much faster and better. On the one hand, we are building on our strengths. Our employees are working in important areas, like health and nutrition, that improve people's lives. We are researching new drugs for cancer and Parkinson's disease. We are developing new herbicides, accelerated by artificial intelligence, and we continue to work on our top consumer brands, such as Aspirin, which is celebrating a great anniversary this year. We made great progress with all of these projects in 2023.
On the other hand, we have to admit to ourselves there are 4 major areas of improvement that we need to work on at full speed over the next 2 to 3 years. First, the loss of patent exclusivity and the structure of our pipeline in pharma. Second, the legal cases in the US, and third, our high level of debt. And finally, there's bureaucracy, which is slowing us down, like many other large companies. So we have 3 great businesses and 4 major challenges. I, together with the entire Bayer team, will stay focused on addressing these. This means continuing to strengthen the positive aspects while tackling the challenges in a targeted manner. That's what it's all about now, and that's what it's all about today, dear shareholders. I look forward to discussing this with you today.
Now, if it's okay for you, I'd like to continue in my mother tongue. You see, for me, the German language is still a bit of a personal Baustelle that I'm working on. So give me 24-36 months, and I'm confident that that will improve as well. For now, I'm gonna rely on the support of the translation team. So on to why we're here. This is my first annual general meeting as CEO of Bayer. It comes after a challenging year. You felt the pain of those challenges. We understand that, and it's something that we are fully committed to fixing. In my time as CEO, I've made a point of transparently naming our vulnerabilities. I'm convinced that a shared understanding of the problems is the starting point to restoring trust, sharpening the focus of our organization, and getting Bayer on track for better performance.
We've had a lot of open, unvarnished, and important conversations since I've joined the company. We analyzed the structure of the company, and we ultimately decided that for now, maintaining our current structure and fixing our operational issues is the best and fastest route to improve performance. We've launched, and we've started implementing a new operating model, Dynamic Shared Ownership or DSO, which included earnest conversations with our employee representatives. We've been in very close contact with our customers, our investors, and our people about the future we see for this company that we hold so dear. It won't be a one-year fix. There will be difficult moments ahead, but I'm convinced there is a path to turn things around at Bayer, and that's the only path that we intend to take. I just mentioned Bayer's great strengths and great challenges. 2023 highlighted them both in pretty clear terms.
Look at our core crop science business, which grew ahead of the market in 2023. Look at the growth trajectory of Kerendia and Nubeqa, our newest launches in pharmaceuticals, which grew 161% and 94%, respectively. Look at the performance of our dermatology and skincare business in consumer health, which has posted double-digit growth for two years straight.
... At this point, as I've just highlighted, Consumer Health's strong results, something we've come to expect from the division. I'd also like to say thank you to Heiko for his great contributions these past six years. Heiko, you're leaving behind a great legacy and a business with a very strong track record of performance. And Julio, I can't wait to see where you're gonna take it next. Thank you. I'd also like to welcome Heike, who has been on board a little longer, but it's the first time that she's joined us for the annual stockholders' meeting. Heike, it's already been so great having you on the team. So back to our company's strengths. In all of the core activities I just mentioned, Team Bayer competed with, and in some areas, we outperformed our competition. That's a sign of vigor and resilience.
The soul of this company is alive and well. That's never been in question to me. In other areas, however, our four challenges were very apparent. Let's walk through them. First, we saw the consequence of our pipeline composition, which is weighted toward the earlier stages and the loss of patent exclusivities. Xarelto declined 6% in 2023, taking nearly one and a half percentage points from our full-year growth in pharmaceuticals. The losses of exclusivities will continue to weigh on our growth in the next few years. Second, litigation continued to burden our operations. We won some cases, and we lost others. As expected, many of the exceptionally high verdicts we've we saw have already been reduced, but too much remains unresolved. Third, cash.
Our 2023 performance was underwhelming, largely due to payments to the plaintiff litigation industry and some operational muscle on working capital that we still need to strengthen. Finally, bureaucracy. We want to free our people to pursue our mission in ways that have the highest impact. That's a radical shift from the way most companies, including Bayer, are run, and it's gonna be good for our customers, good for our people, and good for business. In summer of last year, we downgraded our 2023 financial targets. Despite extensive analysis and projections from very intelligent and dedicated people across many layers of the org chart, we hadn't accurately predicted the course of glyphosate prices, and we missed our targets. That's disappointing.
It doesn't live up to the standard we've set for ourselves, but I'm encouraged by the skill, resolve, and dedication that I saw from our team in response. After lowering our targets in July, we delivered. We hit the upper tier of our adjusted guidance in every area. Our full-year sales came in at EUR 47.6 billion. In terms of EBITDA before special items, our earnings netted out at EUR 11.7 billion, and our core EPS amounted to 6.39 EUR per share. Finally, after a severe downgrade of our free operating cash flow, we rallied our organization to leave no stone unturned. We were able to generate EUR 1.3 billion in cash, which helped us pay down our debt to EUR 34.5 billion. Here's how that performance broke down by business. In Crop Science, our core business grew 7%.
For consistency, I'll use currency- and portfolio-adjusted figures when referring to growth rates. That 7% put us ahead of the competition, and it underscores the strength of our market-leading Crop Science business. Outside of the core, though, glyphosate prices dragged down our top- and bottom-line performance. In Pharmaceuticals, we saw increasing pressure from patent expiry. This was counterbalanced by good results behind new products and a strong performance from both Eylea and our radiology business. Overall, that kept growth level year-over-year. Our pharma margins declined to around 29%. In Consumer Health, we posted 6% growth, and we continued to deliver strong margins into the mid-20s, based on a strong fourth quarter. Now, that was 2023. Some signs of how this company can perform, but also of where we must be better. Let's look at the year at hand.
2024 is the first full year of a three-year rejuvenation. We communicated softer growth prospects in the range of -1% to +3%, and we expect declines in earnings before special items between -9% and -3%. Despite lower profitability, we will make progress in improving our cash flow and strengthening our focus on working capital management. We expect free cash flow to come in between EUR 2 billion and EUR 3 billion. Our Crop Science and Consumer Health divisions expect a slow start to the year due to market dynamics, but we feel confident in our full-year targets and the direction of our businesses. Those are the financials. Equally important is how we're taking on the four challenges I mentioned earlier.
Some of our efforts will immediately show up in the financial results, and some will take more time, but these efforts are foundational to our long-term success, and we've already gotten started tackling them. First, the only way to tackle a pipeline issue is with more innovation. We're speeding up the way innovation happens at Bayer by centering our processes on the people our work intends to serve. Look at our Consumer Health business. The team behind our beloved One A Day brand knew it had an opportunity. Couples looking to get pregnant need the right vitamins and nutrients, and One A Day exists to get people the supplementation they need. Last year at this time, that was just an opportunity. Today, it's a reality. An early adopter of Dynamic Shared Ownership, the team leaned into more mission-centric ways of working, and they saw rapid results.
They launched an entirely new pre-pregnancy multivitamin in March, last month, one year ahead of schedule, with a refreshed brand identity to match. In pharmaceuticals, our team is launching Eylea 8 mg, an innovation for patients and ophthalmologists that allows for longer treatment intervals, fewer injections, and fewer clinic visits than Eylea 2 mg. This frees up valuable clinical capacities for better patient care. In January, one of the first patients was treated just 40 kilometers from where I'm speaking to you today. Now, our Eylea team is up and running in Dynamic Shared Ownership, and they're poised to expand access for this important launch of our highest, of one of our highest impact medicines. We're not just capitalizing on projects that have reached the market, though. We're advancing our pipeline as well. Our early-stage pipeline is stocked with promising projects.
A majority of them have entered our pipeline in just the past 18 months, and we'll keep moving at a fast, diligent clip. You'll see us advance more innovative projects in 2024. Finally, Elinzanetant, one of our blockbuster candidates in women's health, has shown very consistent positive data across all three phase 3 clinical trials. We'll soon be submitting the data from these studies to health authorities in order to gain market authorization. In crop science, our team is turning the commercial model on its head, creating a much more seamless experience for farmers. That's important because we're going to be bringing a lot of innovation to farmers around the world over the next decade. We have plans to market 10 blockbusters over the next 10 years, and we're making the focused investments necessary to support this work.
In 2023, we broke ground on a state-of-the-art research facility in Monheim. The EUR 220 million space represents the biggest investment in our agriculture business in Germany since we opened the Monheim campus 40 years ago. We have a compound library consisting of 2.5 million substances. 80% of them are proprietary Bayer molecules. By pairing the high-tech functionality of this facility, the incredible processing speed and capabilities of AI, and the ingenuity of our scientists, this space will be the birthplace of the next generation of crop protection solutions. Designed in Monheim, tested under the environmental conditions of fields from Iowa to Indonesia, and supporting food security for families all around the world, projects like these are the reason Bayer exists.
New products for couples wanting to conceive, new treatments for patients with deteriorating vision, new compounds to help farmers produce more while restoring the Earth. The people of Bayer are pursuing our mission in new and important ways. When I speak with them, it always starts with the difference we can make for farmers, for patients, for consumers. That's what makes me so confident of our success. Now, on litigation, last month, I said we're looking at the litigation topic from every angle, inside and outside the courtroom. I also said that on this issue, you're gonna learn about actions before you hear about it. That's what's happened since then. More than 60 agricultural groups have banded together to support American agriculture by advocating for science-based regulation.
American farmers, they see the dissonance between verdicts and the scientific findings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and they're concerned that their access to essential, safe crop protection products is under threat. That's why we've joined forces to ensure that on this critical issue, U.S. farmers are heard by lawmakers and the broader public. Finally, I committed that we're considering every possible means to bring closure to the issue. Let me underscore that point. We've expanded our strategy, and we're looking at different approaches and alternatives. We're doing so with total focus, an open mind, and a commitment to doing what's right for you, for Bayer, and for our customers. Debt is the next topic. We're taking unprecedented steps to reduce our net debt. Earlier this year, we put forward a proposal to cut the dividend to the legal minimum.
Never in the company's modern history have we taken such a step, and we did not do so lightly. We consulted our investors. I understand the reactions a decision like this can trigger, and we take no pleasure in having to make that proposal. But difficult situations call for bold and difficult decisions. The reactions I've seen and heard, they confirm that we're doing the right thing. In 2024, we plan to reduce our net debt to between EUR 32.5 billion and EUR 33.5 billion. Finally, bureaucracy. We're delayering the organization and consolidating leadership roles for more impact. Team Bayer has always had an important sense of mission and purpose, but now we're embedding that force into the way that work gets done here. We're becoming a team that's less designed for delegation and even more driven to create the best outcomes for our customers.
We started implementing the system in July of last year, and we've already seen significant changes in our organization. Our senior management circle is smaller. We've consolidated, even dissolved entire functions, and we're putting the customer at the center of everything we do. You, our customers, our partners, and our people can expect more here. By the end of 2024, dynamic shared ownership will have touched every corner of Team Bayer. Finally, I want to zoom out and reflect on another important development in 2024. It's estimated that 49% of the world's population will go to the polls this year. The citizens of 64 countries, plus the EU, are holding or have held elections. That's important. It's important for citizens, it's important for states, and it's important for us. Companies, large and small, are both a cross-section of the societies they operate in and an agent within them.
Increasingly, public dialogue, particularly in the political realm, has dissolved into tribalism and echo chambers. In such a climate, it's easy to draw neat, impermeable lines between good and evil without ever stopping to challenge oneself. I'm reminded of a quote from author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, found in his book, The Gulag Archipelago: "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties, but right through every human heart." That quote challenges us if we take it seriously. It challenges us to look not in, but out and across, to look at the person on the other side of an issue or a border or the political spectrum and see them not first and foremost as an adversary, but another human being whose dignity and rights and worth are inherent, and more than just the sum of cells and genes inside them.
Those are the values that we want to uphold in our organization. That climate of respect, curiosity, and humility is what we wish for the nations we operate in, the institutions we interact with, and the people we serve. Bayer is a company built on science and innovation. The innovation process begins by looking out, seeing the needs of a neighbor, and working to serve them. Our mission, health for all, hunger for none, compels us to look out. Late last year, fresh out of their first encounter with our new operating model, a team in our Italian organization was challenged to center their work on the needs of patients. A physician told them the story of a patient from Rome. Let's call him Giorgio. He's a person with hemophilia, a condition that prevents blood from clotting properly.
Giorgio had been receiving a treatment from Bayer, and he was happy with the treatment, but the experience left something to be desired. You see, the treatment involves two syringes, and it's pretty difficult to inject them both with one hand. We were aware of the problem, and we had a solution in development, one that would take 2-3 years to get to patients, but that wouldn't help Giorgio today. So the team got together, and they developed Froggy, an easy-to-handle attachment that makes it simple to manage two syringes at once. A simple tool that looks a bit like the profile of a frog is creating a better experience. Ask Giorgio or the 1,000 patients in Italy who, instead of waiting 3 years for a solution, they got help today.
In everything we do, we're becoming an organization that sees the needs of people like Giorgio, not as an obstacle, but the reason we're here. We're moving with great speed to put dynamic shared ownership into practice, to focus every Bayer person exclusively on our customers and our products every moment of every day. We have four big challenges that we're addressing with great urgency and resolve, and we'll communicate with you about our progress very frankly along the way. The journey ahead of us will have challenges, but we're here because we know it will be worth it for us, for you, and the people we're here to serve. Thank you very much for being here today. Now back to you, Norbert.
Ladies and gentlemen, our CEO, Bill Anderson, gave you a detailed overview of fiscal 2023 and the prospects of the company. Thank you, Bill, for these very in-depth, thoughtful, and convincing submissions. My dear stockholders, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to deliver the report of the Supervisory Board, which is part of agenda item one of today's annual stockholders meeting. You will find the report of the Supervisory Board on pages 12-19 of the annual report, to which I refer. Before I address the focal points of the Supervisory Board's duties, I would like to highlight some individual aspects that had a special impact on the board's work last year. The Supervisory Board's work in 2023 was largely devoted to reorganizing Bayer's managerial team.
In February, the Supervisory Board appointed Bill Anderson to the Board of Management, effective April 1, and he then duly became CEO on June 1, 2023. Over the remainder of the last year, 2023, in the first months of this year, the Supervisory Board reached decisions on two further changes to the Board of Management. The Supervisory Board also reevaluated its own composition, and it will propose to the annual stockholders meeting today that two established members be reelected to the Supervisory Board and three new individuals be elected to replace outgoing members. Last but not least, the Supervisory Board and the Human Resources and Compensation Committee have scrutinized the Board of Management's compensation and how it is reported on in the compensation report. I will go into all of these matters in more detail in a matter of minutes.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Supervisory Board convened for eight meetings last year. Following the end of the pandemic, it was possible for us to meet up more often in person again. In view of the now very international composition of the board and in the interests of sustainability and cost-effectiveness, however, many of the meetings were held as virtual events. In between the meetings of the Supervisory Board, I was in regular and close contact with the CEO at the time, Werner Baumann, until the end of May 2023, and then Bill Anderson from June onwards, as well as with the other members of the Board of Management and further company executives. Allow me to highlight some of the key areas the Supervisory Board focused on this past year. Engaging with stockholders and other stakeholders is a top priority for Bayer and the Supervisory Board.
Following the 2023 annual stockholders meeting, we prioritized engagement across many topics, including CEO transition, corporate structure, Supervisory Board refreshment, dividend policy, Board of Management compensation, and sustainability. These topics were particularly important in view of the low vote support for some of these items at last year's annual stockholders meeting. During the most recent corporate governance roadshow, we engaged with stockholders representing 40% of shares outstanding, which is approximately 63% of shares held by institutional investors. As Supervisory Board Chairman, I participated in many of these engagements and am grateful for the constructive dialogue with our stockholders. The feedback we received has given us a wider and deeper perspective on the issues we discussed. The Supervisory Board also scrutinized the Board of Management's business strategy and the company's performance.
Bill Anderson has already talked in detail about this in his speech, and I do not wish to repeat what he said. But the challenges facing Bayer that he mentioned, such as our growth and profitability, the patent expirations, and our pharmaceutical divisions' pipeline structure, the lawsuits, our debt situation, and the need to reduce bureaucracy, have all been analyzed in detail by the Supervisory Board as well. Many of our in-depth meetings were devoted to the implementation of dynamic shared ownership, a new organizational model aimed at boosting our performance, and the repositioning of our capital allocation strategies so that we can concentrate on achieving a healthy financial position. The appointment of a new CEO was, as I already mentioned, one of our top priorities in 2023. We pursued and completed this task with due consideration of the feedback from our stockholders.
We're delighted that Bill Anderson is the new CEO who will lead Bayer into the future, and as we have already seen, he has immediately identified the most important issues and set about tackling them. His fresh perspective enables him to take decisive action on the basis of his in-depth review of our strengths and weaknesses. In addition to Bill Anderson, the Supervisory Board also appointed two new members to the Board of Management. Heike Prinz was appointed Chief Talent Officer and Labor Director, effective September first, 2023. In early 2024, Julio Triana was appointed President of the Consumer Health Division, effective May first, 2024. Both of them introduced themselves to you at the beginning of today's meeting.
In addition, the Supervisory Board and the Human Resources Committee and Compensation Committee have developed an improved Board of Management compensation system that incorporates the feedback we received from shareholders. We hope that you will vote in favor of this improved system today. Along with the new features and improvements, we have also made structural changes to simplify the system and to ensure that the implementation of compensation decisions more closely aligns to the company performance. Furthermore, a clear focus was placed on the performance of the share price. A summary of the specific feedback we received from investors and the actions taken in response is included in the 2023 compensation report, which is likewise the subject of a vote for approval at today's meeting.
While the views of stockholders varied and were not consistent in all areas, we believe we have addressed the consensus feedback in our actions, along with a commitment to transparency around our decision-making processes. The key changes, which are described in detail in the compensation system we published together with the documentation for the annual stockholders meeting, include: in the short-term incentive, STI for short, the free cash flow metric will not be adjusted for litigation payments and will be the same as the value published in the annual report. A formal mechanism was created to give the supervisory board a limited ability to adjust the final STI payouts in the event of extraordinary developments. In the long-term incentive, LTI, we want to achieve greater alignment to long-term shareholder value creation.
We want to do this by doubling the proportion of the relative total shareholder return from 40% to 80%, while a few investors would have preferred retaining this metric used in the past, the return on capital employed, or ROCE for short. There was a general belief that in the near term, greater emphasis should be placed on increasing the share price. This was particularly appreciated when combined with the new outperformance requirement to achieve an at-target payout. Payout of the target amount is contingent on reaching the 60th percentile of the Euro Stoxx 50 benchmark values. We believe that we have developed a system that is very well-suited to Bayer's current situation. Nonetheless, the supervisory board plans to review the system in just two years to determine whether our experiences with the system or any changes to the underlying circumstances will necessitate a revision.
If this is the case, we will submit a revised compensation system to the annual stockholders meeting for approval ahead of the 4-year interval stipulated by law. Now, let me turn to the Board of Management compensation report for 2023, as outlined in the compensation report submitted by, to today's meeting. The compensation for 2023 is still based on the compensation system approved by the annual stockholders meeting in 2020. The compensation system is designed to ensure that the variable compensation is aligned to the general performance of the company and its businesses, and also reflects the stockholder experience. Bayer did not meet the ambitious targets set for 2023 by the supervisory board at the beginning of the respective performance periods. This resulted in payouts well below the target amounts for the year.
Average target attainment for the short-term incentive, STI, was 13%, compared to 130% in 2022. This value is based on the below-target attainment levels for all three equally weighted components. Core earnings per share came in at 6.39 EUR and resulted in target attainment of 0%. Free cash flow was EUR 1,300 million, which resulted in a target attainment of 0%, and the crop science, pharmaceuticals, and consumer health division components, based on EBITDA margin and sales growth, resulted in attainment levels of 0%, 35%, and 102%, respectively. The first tranche of the long-term incentive, LTI, granted in 2020, was earned substantially below target at 13%. This was largely a result of our stock price performance.
The 2019 tranche, which ran until 2022, amounted to 62%. Average direct compensation awarded to the Board of Management in 2023, which is made up of the two variable compensation components, STI and LTI, amounted to 13% of the agreed target amount, compared to 87% in the previous year. This result demonstrates the strong alignment between company performance and payouts. Over the past year, we also prioritized a review of the composition of the Supervisory Board. We focused on finding the right balance of skill, experience, and expertise to support effective oversight of Bayer in alignment with our strategic priorities and the challenges lying ahead. The Supervisory Board has proposed 5 stockholder representatives for election at the 2024 annual stockholders meeting, including 3 new nominees who bring with them the skills identified in our review process.
Namely, first, navigating complex litigation, second, integrating science into our business strategy, and third, bringing relevant investor perspectives, as well as experience in leading transformations. Ladies and gentlemen, now let's turn to the audit of the financial statements for fiscal 2023. The Audit Committee and the supervisory board extensively discussed and examined the annual financial statements of Bayer AG, the consolidated financial statements for the group, the combined management report, and the audit reports by the external auditor for fiscal 2023. There were no objections, and we therefore concurred with the result of the external audit. We are in agreement with the combined management report, and in particular, with the assessment of the future development of the company. The same applies to the proposed dividend.
The Supervisory Board has assented to the proposal by the Board of Management for the use of the distributable profit, which provides for payment of a dividend of EUR 0.11 per share. The Supervisory Board is aware that the reduction of the dividend represents a substantial burden for our stockholders. However, we believe that in view of the need to reduce our debt, the decision was unavoidable. Bill Anderson explained the reasons for this decision in more detail in his speech.... Dear stockholders, as already explained by Bill Anderson, 2023 was a very challenging year for your company, Bayer AG. However, Bill and the entire Board of Management have taken strategic, targeted measures to create strong foundations that we can build on to generate substantial long-term value for our stockholders.
On behalf of the supervisory board, and I am sure on your behalf as well, I would like to thank the members of the board of management and the entire workforce for their hard work, particularly in view of these very challenging times for Bayer. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the report of the supervisory board. I would now like to address the candidates for election to the supervisory board. Five elections are necessary. The supervisory board is endorsing the election of five candidates: Lori Schechter, Nancy Simonian, Jeffrey Allen, our three new candidates for the supervisory board. They cover what in the examination process has been established as the competency requirements, namely navigating litigation, integrating science into the business strategy, and considering relevant perspectives of the shareholders and managerial experience in transformation. Lori Schechter is a lawyer.
She was Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of the healthcare company, McKesson Corporation. She has extensive experience in the health sector and in managing complex litigation, especially in the United States. Previously, she was a partner at a law firm, Morrison & Foerster, where she headed Global Litigation. Her experience in managing teams in the fields of government affairs and legal and risk management, as well as her experience in complex litigation, will be very beneficial to the Supervisory Board. Dr. Nancy Simonian is a scientist. She's the former CEO of Syros Pharmaceuticals, which gives her extensive experience in biotechnology and in the development and commercialization of product candidates. Her experience in the late phase of product development and her knowledge and understanding of the patient's perspective as a physician will be a boon to the Supervisory Board and a great supplement. Jeffrey Ubben is a financial expert.
He is a founder, portfolio manager, and managing partner for Inclusive Capital Partners, and former CEO of ValueAct Capital. He has more than 35 years of investment experience, and he has been a member of corporate bodies of a number of listed companies. His experience in return on capital returns and capital orientation of companies will be very beneficial to the company as well. Jeffrey, for some time, on top of everything else, has been a renowned member of the independent Sustainability Council of Bayer. He will end his term there if he is accepted to the Supervisory Board. Lori Schechter, Nancy Simonian, and Jeffrey Ubben will now introduce themselves to you via brief videos. These videos have been recorded prior to the AGM.
Shareholders of Bayer, my name is Lori Schechter, and I'm delighted to introduce myself to you from my home in Dallas, Texas. I'm inspired by Bayer's mission: Health for all, hunger for none. I believe the company is poised to make a meaningful difference in our world. For this reason, I would be honored to be given the mandate from you and your fellow shareholders to serve on and contribute to the Bayer Supervisory Board. For the past 10 years, I served as General Counsel of McKesson Corporation, a diversified healthcare company whose vision is very much like theirs, to advance health outcomes for all. In this role, I led teams addressing legal, compliance, government affairs, quality, and brand marketing and communications. Our team approach enabled significant business transformation, as well as thoughtful risk management and mitigation.
During my tenure, I navigated the impact of the national opioid crisis for McKesson, including actions by government regulators, a voluminous litigation landscape, and the reputational microscope from politicians, shareholders, and the public. I also had the honor of serving on the McKesson Europe Supervisory Board, formed after a German-based healthcare company became a part of McKesson. Prior to my time at McKesson, I addressed litigation as a partner in an international law firm. With this background in global healthcare issues and complex litigation, I believe I can add value to Bayer Supervisory Board and contribute to Bayer's vision in the years ahead. I would be honored to receive your support. Thank you for your time today.
Hello to the shareholders of Bayer, and greetings from Cambridge, Massachusetts. My name is Nancy Simonian. I am a physician scientist and have worked in the biotechnology field for close to 30 years. I've been involved in the development of multiple innovative medicines that have transformed the lives of people living with cancer, neurologic, and inflammatory diseases. I have seen firsthand how breakthroughs in science and its translation into medicines can bring tremendous value to patients and to shareholders. I look forward to serving on Bayer's Supervisory Board because I deeply resonate with its bold mission of health for all and hunger for none. Bayer is at a critical juncture in its evolution, and I believe in its innovative mindset and commitment to improve productivity.
With my background and experience as a physician, drug developer, and company founder and CEO, I look forward to working with the company as it brings forward important new products that make a difference in people's lives. Thank you.
Hello. My name is Jeff Ubben. I'm calling in from my home office in Northern California, which doubles as a dog room, as you can tell. My whole career has been as an institutional public market manager, but largely over the last 20 years as a shareholder director. I believe in the alignment of interests of a long-term shareholder in the boardroom. In the case of Bayer, I also believe strongly in the quality of these three businesses. The stock price does not recognize the long-term growth potential or the cash generating capabilities of these businesses. Having spent a lot of time with management, I believe this is the right team with the right strategy to realize the embedded value in these assets.
Finally, as an investor with an increasing focus on investing more behind the imperatives of today, which is improving planetary health, I find Bayer to be a perfect match. I have served on the Bayer Sustainability Council for the last year, and this is core to the company, and it will be a value driver over the long term. I'm honored to be a nominee for the Supervisory Board, and I look forward to working for you.
I would like to thank both candidates. Actually, all three. Ladies and gentlemen, the Supervisory Board also suggests Horst Baier and Mrs. Cousin be re-elected to the Supervisory Board. Both have contributed their expertise to the activity of the Supervisory Board and have made a considerable contribution to the performance of the company. You've been familiar with both of them for a couple of years. In 2020, Mr. Baier was elected to the Supervisory Board. He has experience in finance and risk management that he brings to the table, and as a chairman of the audit committee, all of this is very relevant. Ertharin Cousin joined the Supervisory Board in 2019. She has experience in agriculture and sustainability, which is, in particular, very important as... in her role as chair of the ESG Committee. Mrs. Simone Bagel-Trah and Mr.
Wiestler is not going to be re-elected, and Mr. Norbert Bischofberger has given up his office with effect from the end of today's annual stockholders meeting. For all three exiting members, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their tenure. Simone Bagel-Trah was elected for the first time to the supervisory board of the company at the 2014 ASM. In 2020, she became member of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, and in 2023, she became a member of the Nomination Committee. Otmar Wiestler has belonged to the supervisory board since the first of October, 2014. Since its foundation in September 2015, he was a member of the Innovation Committee, and since April of 2021, he was the chairman.
Norbert Bischofberger was a member of the supervisory board as of the 2017 ASM, and since September 2017, he has been a member of the Innovation Committee. My dear Simone, Norbert, for you, this is the last Bayer ASM at which you'll be participating as members of the supervisory board. I would like to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of the entire supervisory board for the years of dedication to the work of the supervisory board and its committees. We wish you all the best for your futures. For one member of the Board of Management, today is the last ASM. As I mentioned earlier, Heiko Schipper will leave the Board of Management with effect from the end of the month.
In the past six years, he has shaped the Consumer Health Division, successfully developed it strategically, and brought it back to the top of the sector, and for this, he is deserving of our special thanks. My dear Heiko, we wish you all the best for your future. I would also like to thank Sarena Lin, who, as predecessor of Heike Prinz, was very valuable to the Board of Management until the 31st of August, 2023. During her tenure, Sarena Lin continued to develop the leadership competency in the company by promoting performance of employees across all levels of the company and championing inclusion and diversity. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for her work as well. Ladies and gentlemen, in summary, I would like to say what the focal points of the Supervisory Board's work will be in the next 12 months.
The Supervisory Board will focus its work primarily on the following priorities and closely monitor and accompany the corresponding activities of the Board of Management. First, improving performance in all areas, outperforming the competition in terms of growth and profitability. We've got to be better here. Second, further evolving the pipelines at pharmaceuticals, crop science, and consumer health. Third, improving the cash flow and reducing net debt over the long term. Fourth, implementing dynamic shared ownership to demonstrably enhance performance. And fifth, proactively finding solutions to Bayer's litigation issues. Dear stockholders, I am firmly convinced that by focusing on these five priorities, the Supervisory Board, together with the board of management, will significantly advance the transformation of Bayer. The Supervisory Board and I personally will closely oversee and accompany them. We look forward to our continued dialogue with you. Thank you very much.
Next, I would like to ask Wolfgang Nickl to comment on agenda item 8, the approval of the control and profit and loss pooling agreement between the company and Bayer CropScience Aktiengesellschaft, as provided for by German law. Mr. Nickl will also make a brief statement on agenda item 7, the authorization to acquire and use treasury shares. Wolfgang?
Thank you, Norbert. Ladies and gentlemen, under agenda item eight of today's meeting, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board proposed that the control and profit and loss transfer agreement between Bayer AG and Bayer CropScience AG, BCS AG, be approved. The German Stock Corporation Act stipulates that the Board of Management must already explain the control and profit and loss transfer agreement to the annual stockholders meeting. A control agreement currently exists between Bayer AG and BCS AG. This agreement serves to create a consolidated tax group for value-added tax purposes between the two companies. The consolidated tax group for value-added tax purposes is associated with considerably simplified administrative and legal processes.
On the 22nd of February, 2024, a profit and loss transfer component was added to the existing control agreement, and it was revised as a whole to form the control and profit and loss transfer agreement. The consolidated tax group for value-added tax purposes is thereby supplemented by a consolidated tax group for income tax purposes. In accordance with the terms of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement, in a stipulation that is unchanged from the existing control agreement, BCS AG places the management of its company under the control of Bayer AG, which is entitled to issue instructions to the Board of Management of BCS. Likewise unchanged, Bayer AG will absorb any losses incurred by BCS AG in accordance with the terms of the German Stock Corporation Act.
A profit transfer has been added as section two of the agreement, which states that BCS AG undertakes to transfer its entire profit to Bayer AG, in accordance with the provisions of the German Stock Corporation Act and the German Commercial Code. To take effect, the control and profit and loss transfer agreement must be approved by the annual stockholders meetings of Bayer AG and BCS AG, and must be entered into the commercial register of BCS AG. Approval was granted by the annual stockholders meeting of BCS AG on February 28, 2024. The control and profit and loss transfer agreement replaces the existing control agreement, with the exception of the right to issue instructions retroactively for the period from the start of fiscal year 2024. It will initially apply for a minimum period of 5 years after taking effect.
The right to terminate the agreement for good cause will, in particular, apply if there is a significant change to the ownership structure and, or in the event of a merger, split off, or liquidation of one of the parties. The control and profit and loss transfer agreement, in common with the existing control agreement, does not provide for any compensation payments or any settlement payment for non-controlling interest shareholders, because Bayer AG is the sole stockholder of BCS AG. In addition to representing a considerable administrative and legal simplification, the control and profit and loss transfer agreement also enables the tax-optimized recognition of the profits and losses of the BCS in the context of a consolidated tax group for corporate income tax and trade tax purposes. Bayer AG and BCS AG can consolidate taxes, enabling profits and losses to be offset against each other for tax purposes.
This means that only Bayer AG is liable for corporate income tax and trade tax. Regarding the details and respective arrangements of BCS AG, I refer you to the wording of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement, and the explanations in the joint report of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and the Board of Management of BCS AG. Both documents have been available for perusal on the annual stockholders meeting website since the publication of the notice convening today's annual stockholders meeting. You can also find the annual financial statements of both companies for the last three fiscal years, and the combined management reports of Bayer AG and the Bayer Group for the last three fiscal years there. Let me now stress another aspect relating to item seven on today's agenda, the authorization to acquire and use own shares.
Under this agenda item, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board propose that the Board of Management be authorized to acquire own shares up to a total of 10% of the capital stock until April 25, 2029. The acquired shares shall also be able to be used with this application of subscription and other tender rights. In addition, the Board of Management shall also be authorized to use put or call options to acquire own shares, up to a maximum of 5% of their capital stock. I would like to stress that this authorization is only an anticipatory resolution. The Board of Management is not currently planning to use this authorization for any other purpose other than for employee share programs. Specifically, we are not currently planning any large-scale share buybacks.
Regarding further details concerning agenda item seven, I refer you to the proposed resolutions and the written report by the Board of Management. These can be accessed on the company's annual stockholders' meeting website. Thank you for your attention. I now pass the floor back to Norbert.
Thank you very much, Wolfgang. Ladies and gentlemen! Before we now move to the debate regarding the agenda items, I would firstly like to refer to the attendance numbers and offer you some organizational information. I have the list of participants of the company's registered share capital of EUR 2,515,005,648.92, divided into 982,424,082 no par value shares. 479,678,266 no par value shares are represented with the same number of votes. This corresponds to 48.83% of the registered share capital. In addition, the company received postal votes for 73,020,991 no par value shares.
That means that a total of 552,699,257 no par share values have been voted for, which corresponds to 56.26% of the registered share capital. When this presence was determined, 380 stockholders and stockholder representatives were connected electronically to today's annual stockholders meeting. Furthermore, I can also inform you that a further 3,000 approximately 3,600 persons are currently following the virtual annual stockholders via the public stream.
Yeah. Now, to the announced organizational notes.
Now, as I had mentioned, I would like to go into some organizational matters. The discussion should address all agenda items. I would therefore ask that the discussion regarding all of these identified items be summarized. I would therefore ask the speakers not to separate their points on various matters, but to bring them together.
Please also note that only submissions that relate to the agenda of today's annual stockholders meeting are permitted. As you know, according to the German Corporate Governance Code, an annual stockholders meeting should be concluded within 4 to 6 hours at the latest. This has not been possible at recent annual stockholders meetings, and especially in recent annual stockholders meetings with live submissions. Nevertheless, I will endeavor to ensure that the annual stockholders meeting runs smoothly, and in the interests of us all, I kindly ask for your support. I have already received 30 requests for the floor. I would like, again, to ask those who still wish to take the floor to do so promptly. I would also urge you to keep your submissions brief and limit them to 10 minutes.
In view of the requests for the floor that have already been received, I reserve the right to formally limit speaking and questioning time in the further course of the annual stockholders meeting. The Board of Management will then answer your questions. Questions regarding the scope of responsibility of the Supervisory Board will be answered by me in coordination with the Supervisory Board. After answering these questions, I'll move on to the votes on the draft resolutions and finding the outcome of the votes. I would like to remind you that you can continue to exercise your voting rights and modify the exercise of your voting rights until I close the voting procedure. In your interests, I would like to remind you not to wait to cast your vote until the very last moment or to wait to issue instructions until the very last moment.
The first person asking a question is Marc Tüngler, and I would like to ask Mr. Hafke to be on the ready, and then I would like to ask Ingo Speich to be on the ready. In addition to your name, please let us know on whose behalf you will be speaking. Over the continued course of the annual stockholders meeting, I also intend to always announce the next two speakers so that they can get ready for their submissions. Just before they are switched live, I will call the speakers, and now I'd like to hand the floor to our first speaker, Mr. Tüngler. Mr. Tüngler, please go ahead.
Thank you very much for passing the floor to me. My name is indeed Marc Tüngler. I am the director of the German Protection Alliance for Securities from Düsseldorf, and we, of course, are delighted to be represented at today's stockholder meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we would love to talk about football and Bayer's recent victories, but we are at the stockholders meeting of Bayer AG, and unfortunately, there's not much mastery to talk about. Nevertheless, thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann. Thank you very much, Mr. Anderson, for your speeches. Of course, that has offered us some information, and we really do feel a tangible change, or at least this is what we can hear.
The stockholders are seeing changes in the actual rates. And Mr. Anderson, of course, I do have a few questions to you, but I would like to call upon the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, that all of you here did not actually decide since the Monsanto was bought. But please, what we want to say is do take new paths. Do take new paths. We, stockholders, will come with you, and the path is free. Please, let's start. Mr. Anderson, you, as the CEO in the past months, have very clearly stated that you want to take a different path. We don't necessarily understand all of this because a lot of it seems to be more internally directed, but of course, we want to see it more externally.
We'll come to this, I'm sure.... Mr. Anderson and members of the Management Board and Supervisory Board, we are aware that you need time. We understand this. We stockholders have already invested much time with problems and difficulties, so please do understand that we're becoming impatient. There is a limit to our patience, but of course, our patience will only be given if we see developments. There is a contradiction. You need time, we don't have any, because we've already experienced so much. This contradiction is something I'd like to address with a few questions, so that you're able to provide us with some answers and elucidate these contradictions.
So perhaps I can begin with the most important question. Mr. Anderson, you as the new CEO, when will we reobtain performance? Will we get back to the levels of performance we knew? In your speech, you said we'll need 2-3 years until measures take hold. But how can that be quantified? How can we quantify when performance returns? Of course, you can say we'll see it in the numbers, but please help us, what will change first? How will we know? And at the end of the day, that is the relevant point. We need performance. You're working on it, but please tell us how we, stockholders, are able to perceive this from the outside, that these measures being taken internally are indeed having effect.
So when can we expect to see changes, put in other words? Ladies and gentlemen, co-stockholders, members of the boards, the question is, of course, how you want to resolve the issues of the legal cases in the USA, glyphosate, Roundup, and so on and so forth. You said that you want to take new paths. Respect, but what are these paths exactly? We want to have a feeling and understanding. We understand that you're not able to clearly state your tactics and strategy here, but we would like to have a basic understanding of how you wish to proceed. In the press, we've read that you're considering partial insolvency in Texas. At the same time, at a federal level in the US, you want to speak with politicians in order to change legislation to protect you.
That doesn't really seem to be in line. So there seems to be a threat of a partial insolvency. It doesn't really make too much sense. What is your intention? Perhaps, in item four, that's something that I'd be very interested in. Then it's not a new question, but it is certainly on the horizon. It's looming. PCB is the keyword here. What is your opinion on the PCB legal cases? Is it a big problem with Roundup?
Perhaps you can offer us more information on this, so that we understand whether a new wave of cases will damage our rates, our stock prices. Mr. Anderson, we've heard from you, there was much discussion. Of course, we understand that you need some quiet on this point, but it's a question of splitting the group. Regardless of this measure and how it's implemented, and as far as it affects the supervisory board, I believe that this would only make sense if we had a split, if this will lead to an increase in value. That is the core of everything, of course. Please explain to us what your position is in 100% terms.
For pharma and crop science, if you want to increase performance and have well-functioning divisions, I simply cannot understand that you might be considering selling something, because we ultimately want to be in calmer waters, and we'd like some clarification on this point. Another decisive point is that we have important products, and we're able to provide them to the correct customers in the future, both in pharmaceuticals and crop sciences. As regards active substances in pharmaceuticals, in November, you had a very harsh tone, and it was unusual for Bayer and Bayer's stockholders, that you were speaking in such a manner. Mr. Anderson, how do you personally see our pharmaceutical pipeline?
You've explained a little about this in your speech, but I would ask you now, from a bird's-eye view, to tell us, especially given what you said in November, whether you were able to progress with these developments. Are you aiming for a license here? We would simply like some more information on this point, and we would like to know what path you aim to take here, because you've said that you want to do things differently, but we don't understand exactly how that is meant. It's similar in the crop science area. What does the pipeline look like here? I'd particularly like to know whether there are transformational innovations here. Crop science has very many small innovations, but do we also have transformational innovation that would improve things for us significantly in the future? That's another question I'd like to ask.
Now, on to the question of money. We, stockholders, had to make painful experiences in terms of the dividends because these were reduced or slashed to the minimum dividend for this year and coming years, potentially. Of course, it's painful. We can understand it, though, because you need cash also to decrease debts. You mentioned this in your speech as well. How are you going to be able to reconcile this topic of filling the pipeline, R&D, financing these without meaning that our dividends are reduced even further? Saving costs doesn't really lead to much more cash flow. So my question is: What possibilities does Bayer AG have in terms of advancing R&D, and what will you do with the money that is so desperately needed? Perhaps you could explain this to us. We stockholders, of course, have agreed to forego our dividends.
This was not an easy decision to make, but perhaps you could offer us more information on this. Now, onto the Supervisory Board elections. We had some election proposals. You said that the first candidate has a relevant perspective or has the ideas of the stockholders in mind, but what does that actually mean? Does that mean that their stock prices will increase for you then? You could have taken me, Mr. Winkeljohann. Of course, that's a joke. But what is the relevant perspective that you're talking about that you see differently for other stockholders? Because now Mr. Ubben is also put up for election to the Supervisory Board. That's another point that I would like to have some more elucidation on. Those are the questions that I have. I look forward to your questions, and I'd like to wish you all the best success.
Please clearly tell us what is your roadmap. We have lacked clear direction, which has led to the stock price having a catastrophic development, and I look forward to your answers and a positive path for Bayer to take. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Tüngler, for your comments and questions. Of course, we will have some further points later on. We will answer these later on in a block. I'd now like to ask Mr. Sven Hafke to take the floor for SdK, and Mr. Speich, Henrik Schmidt, we would ask you to be ready.
Ja, Sehr geehrter Aufsichtsrat- Esteemed members of the supervisory board and board of management, co-stockholders, my name is Sven Hafke. Thank you very much for passing the floor to me. I am representing SdK, that is an investors alliance, our members, and those who have passed proxies to us. I've been an investor in Bayer for years. You can see this is done with happiness and also with some sadness. My question is slightly different to that of Mr. Tüngler: How are we going to progress? If we see that there are significant differences in the structure, so larger areas in middle management, if we were to forego staff, what will our talent management look like in the future? How will we be able to identify talent in the future, bring them in, if we have direct contact persons disappearing? What are we going to do with talent?
In many cases, the simple next step in your career would simply disappear. So how are we going to keep these talented employees on board? The second block, which goes a little bit more in detail in R&D, the SdK and I, have noted that you have EUR 5.3 billion and EUR 7.1 billion invested per year in R&D. Is that expedient? Is it still the right strategy? Or perhaps I should ask, how do we want to improve the efficiency of our R&D to make sure that we are ready and prepared for the future? If I look specifically at the pharmaceutical area and risk management, if risk management were structured in a particular way, I would expect that at least potential blockbusters do not work out because of inefficiency. Perhaps you could answer some points on that.
One question that is important to me personally, our employees. Are our employees very insecure? I always look at the numbers of accidents. The rate of operational accidents in the group within the last 3-4 years has increased by approximately 40%. Is there a lack of security or safety for our employees? We've also had, in 2023, 7 fatal accidents. The previous years, it was perhaps 1 or 2, but 7 within one year, that was very painful. We've lost 7 employees due to operational accidents. So how are we going to tackle this and ensure that it doesn't happen again? The last question that I have is the statement on the risk of the Board of Management. The Board of Management referred to glyphosate, and the legal aspects are not necessarily problems of substance. And this brings me to something that Mr.
Tüngler mentioned earlier on: What is the further roadmap? I know, of course, that you can't offer us specific details, but as stockholders, perhaps you can offer us more detailed information of your way of dealing with this in the future. Other than that, I would like to thank you in advance for your answers, and I'd like to pass the floor back to you.
...Thank you very much, Mr. Hafke. The next speaker is Ingo Speich from Deka. I would also like to ask Henrik Schmidt from DWS and Janne Werning from Union Investment be ready. Mr. Speich, the floor is yours.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ingo Speich. I'm a representative of Deka Investment. It is a subsidiary of the Deka Bank. So I believe that we're looking at a lost year. The stock prices since the last stockholders meeting has decreased by 52%, and compared to the largest German companies, the DAX, is 65%, and this is a very unfortunate development. So this downturn in stock prices has actually accelerated, yet on the capital market, you've been unable to increase any trust. The cash flow led to a significant drop in stock price, and we were unable to have, obtain any new information. There were new challenges, and this is certainly not a successful start of the year. The restructuring is something that we can understand, however, not at this point.
The restructuring program, dynamic shared ownership, is, at least at the moment, something... There's a stumbling block. It's not a solution yet, so this is not making us leaner. As regards to the successes, do we actually have any that we can show? Bayer, you seem to be actually just trying to tidy up without putting out any of the fires that are already raging. The part of the problems with the stock price are down to things that happened long in the past, but now you need to build trust and conviction in your strategy. We have no clear definitions here, and there seem to be no strict alignments of goals. We hoped that the stock price would improve, but this was not the case. On the day of the capital market day, the stock price had a daily balance of more than 77%.
It's worth noting, though, since you entered your job, we have lost half of the stock price. After 10 months in your job, we had expected more. We would like to ask you to focus more on the capital market, and we need a far more significant concentration on improving the pharma pipeline and strengthening agricultural elements. Consumer health or any kind of splitting off would lead to significant costs, and we believe that any credit agreements would be affected by this. Finally, the plaintiffs and lawyers in the USA have led to another loss of trust. We therefore don't believe that a split would be expedient. We believe that Bayer is value and creates value. However, we also believe that what's happening in the US is a toxic mixture, and we don't think that you have it under control.
We want to ask you to create security and certainty and trust. The litigation is very gloomy. Bayer has even further, even more glyphosate litigation cases, and PCB, EUR 11.3 million has been paid for these legal cases. But we believe that perhaps $20 billion would be a more realistic number in a worst-case scenario. Glyphosate and PCB, and so on and so forth, pose a great risk. We've already had settlements in eight U.S. states, but we are still waiting on six federal states in the USA and the results of the litigation, and that shows that there is a significant amount of urgency. We need to make sure that there are no leaks in the litigation ship. How do you assess the legal risks? PCB, there is a possible insolvency.
Johnson & Johnson is a model that we can look towards. What possibilities do you see for a partial IPO for this in the USA, insofar as you're able to get these legal risks under control? Bayer is on the right path in terms of pharmaceuticals, however, this path is stony and long. The results will need a lot of time, and we are in significant amounts of debt. There are many legal cases being brought against the company. How do you want to replace this disappointing pipeline in pharmaceuticals? The amount of money that we're spending for R&D is significant. How do you see the effects between agricultural and pharmaceutical divisions? In the USA, far higher numbers and assessments are being achieved. Are these therefore not, would these not lead to an increase in value?
Climate change is increasing, and many processes are going to change fundamentally. In order to respond to these, we need to develop a climate strategy. In the past two years, Bayer has been able to achieve significant improvements in sustainability. We would like to see these as their own agenda items next year at the stockholders' meeting. We, stockholders, want to see long-term goals, and we want to have the right to speak about these. Please, let us actively put our suggestions forward in this regard. This is commonplace in many other countries with large companies. The mechanical engineering company, IGEA, has already made this possible. There is nothing that you need to hide. Ladies and gentlemen, let's come back to the agenda. We agree for the use under item two, Bayer has it, Bayer has its back to the wall.
If we were to see distribution, it would be important to slash the dividends to the legal minimum. However, we disagree with the proposal of the board of management, and we believe that Mr. Anderson's beginning of the company has not been successful. We would have wished more targeted measures for the stock prices. We do not ratify the actions of the entire board of management. We disagree with item 4, the elections. Of course, there are members who will be bringing their expertise into the board. However, we believe that there is a lack of experience in significant comparable committees. In particular, we disagree with item 6 of the agenda. Only compensation programs that are transparent should be agreed to.
As regards the share buybacks, we disagree with this measure, and we believe that this will only lead to a higher amount of debt, and the volume does not seem to be in line with the amount. We, from Deka Investments, would like to wish the board of management and the supervisory board much success in overcoming the problems that we have, and we would like you to consider your stockholders, as much as possible.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speich, for your submission, and we continue with Henrik Schmidt of DWS. I also would like to ask Mr. Janne Werning and Mr. Gottfried Arnold to get ready as well. Mr. Schmidt, you've got the floor.
Thank you very much, Mr. Anderson, Professor Winkeljohann, ladies and gentlemen on the supervisory board and board of management, dear shareholders. My name is Henrik Schmidt, and among others, I represent DWS Investment GmbH, which is one of the biggest European mutual fund, investment firms, and we also represent our clients holding Bayer shares. Once again, we have gotten a year behind us, which demanded a lot from everybody. Therefore, for a start, I would like to thank all members of the supervisory board and management board and all employees of Bayer AG for their strong efforts and commitments. I'd like to ask you, Mr. Anderson, as the CEO, to pass on my words of gratitude to the entire workforce. Since June first, 2023, Bayer has been writing a new chapter, and Mr. Anderson already initiated some important new changes, as the previous speaker said.
For this courage and for the changes you have initiated, we wish you and the entire board of management great success. We know that in some cases, it will take some time until these measures will show their effects. The decision to slash the dividend that used to come to the minimum level of EUR 0.11 is a tough one, but a necessary one. We will keep a close eye on the development of the profits and the cash flow. The debt, which has risen to more than EUR 34 billion during the fiscal year, still represents a heavy burden to the company and also restricts the possibility of investing in Pharmaceuticals Division. However, the strength of the Pharma pipeline, the further settlement of the litigation in the U.S., and strengthen the overall power of the organization is of prime importance.
However, all of these objectives, of course, also involve a lot of uncertainties. That's why my question number one is: How will the board of management be able to pursue all of these four objectives in parallel? Now, looking at the pharma pipeline, the company continues to struggle with a large number of fundamental issues. On the one hand, you want to increase productivity, on the other hand, you want to also strengthen the early and medium stages of the pharma pipeline. However, the recent judgment of the London High Court regarding Xarelto further restricts your leeway. Although there is still an appeals proceeding pending, the pressure on prices will certainly further increase, and Bayer is facing a potential loss of further contributions to profit.
Now, against this backdrop, does the management board feel that its own forecast for the current year is still appropriate, or do you expect further proceedings of that kind? And if so, in which regions? Which additional costs will you, in this regard, incur in terms of legal counsels? Irrespective of the outcome of the appeals procedure, which specific actions do you want to take to strengthen the pipeline? The next priority for the management board certainly is to further pursue the litigation, especially related to glyphosate in the U.S. However, the number of claims that have been submitted is now more than 167,000, and as of the end of 2023, 113,000 have either been settled or did not meet the requirements to file claims at court.
Nevertheless, once again, more claims, maybe 13,000, were filed than had been closed. Now, we take note of the fact that the new CEO now intends to pursue a new strategy to curb this risk. Whether, however, to relocate the matters from the courts to the plenary sessions remains to be seen. However, I think it was necessary to take a fresh perspective regarding this major risk. Now, how certain are you that the risks can be kept under control and that no further provisions for litigation are required? When can we request the first positive results from that new strategy in terms of litigation and political influence? And do we have to expect further increase of the litigation costs? The next priority, namely number three, is massively reduce the debt. However, this requires improvement of operational performance and increase the cash conversion rate.
The change of the dividend policy, of course, is the first step into that direction. However, what do you think is the current operational performance of the company? Does the current business development align with the path that you intend to take, and will that be enough to further reduce the debt as intended? Now, the fantasy of a quick relief in terms of interest rate has vanished. Short-term interest rate relief cannot be expected anymore. By the end of 2026, once with a total volume of more than EUR 1 billion mature, with an additional coupon of about average 3%. Now, against this backdrop, which expectations do you have for the development of the short-term, medium-term, and long-term refinancing costs? And finally, with the implementation of the DSO model, the bureaucracy within the company is to be reduced radically.
All activities and processes outside the core processes are to be eliminated, which is also to manifest itself in the results as of 2026. Please give us an update on the current status of implementation, especially in those areas where you see very positive and negative surprises in the implementation. In the past few years, we always deliberate very closely whether to ratify the acts of the management board and supervisory board, and today we will ratify the acts of the members of both bodies. Because we appreciate the fact that both do not shy away from difficult decisions. Nevertheless, we still have the expectation for the board of management, the supervisory board, to maintain exactly that stamina and that courage in the further actions. At the end of today's supervisory board annual ASM, Mr. Bischofberger, Ms. Bagel-Trah, and Mr. Bischofberger leave the supervisory board.
Some of them have spent 10 years on that body, and they have accompanied Bayer through the most difficult period of its history. We thank them very much. Mr. Baier and Ms. Ertharin Cousin are up for re-election, which we welcome very much. We are happy that with their know-how and experience, they will continue to serve the company. New nominations are Lori Schechter, Nancy Simonian, and Mr. Jeffrey Ubben. Ms. Schechter's election, above all, is to strengthen the expertise in terms of litigation on the supervisory board, and Dr. Simonian is to add further know-how in pharmaceutical research and development. We will also agree with the election of Mr. Jeffrey Ubben, and we hope that we, as shareholders in long term, can also benefit from his capital markets know-how.
We wish all of the candidates all the best success in exercising their function, and we wish the supervisory board, board good and productive meetings. Let me turn to the compensation system. The significant changes on the strategic level also result in changes to the compensation system, and you propose that the 40% weight of the ROCE in the LTI to be replaced by relative share price development. Now, focusing on the relative performance of the share with a weight of 80% seems reasonable for this phase of transition. I'd like to underline this. And on the annual report on page 244, and also in convocation notice, you, Mr. Winkeljohann, said that within the next two years, a further review and revision of the compensation system is to take place.
Now, for that reason, we are going to approve that, change today. The buyback of own shares proposed under item seven might be somewhat confusing, especially if the dividend has dropped to a historic low of EUR 0.11. However, we do understand this authorization to the extent that it will only be used to offer shares to employees and the share in the employee profit participation system. And well, with that caveat, we agree with that proposal. Nevertheless, I'd like to ask you why you decided to propose this program for the maximum term of five years. Ladies and gentlemen, on the management board and the supervisory board, I wish you all the best success in the upcoming decisions in the fiscal year 2024, which will not be easy one, especially you, Mr. Anderson.
I wish for us, the shareholders, I hope that we will see a positive share price development, and that we can all see some relief in the years in the time to come. Thanks for your attention and thanks for answering my questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Schmidt, for your submission and also for your questions. We then turn to Janne Werning of Union Investment, and Gottfried Arnold and Ms. Sarah Schneider are asked to get ready. Mr. Werning, the floor is yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Janne Werning. I'm the head of ESG Capital Markets at Union Investment. Now, as a mutual fund company of the Volks and Raiffeisen Bank, we are one of the biggest shareholders of Bayer, and we represent the interests of 5.8 million investors. Ladies and gentlemen, in the last 12 months, the DAX rose by 12%. At the same time, Bayer shareholders had to suffer a loss of 55%. Before taking over Monsanto, Bayer was sometimes worth more than EUR 100 billion at the stock exchange. Today, it's EUR 26 billion. That's less than what Bayer paid to purchase Monsanto. So that decline has further accelerated because Bayer is facing a triple crisis. The glyphosate litigation in the U.S. continues.
The interest rate transition has an impact onto the debt, and Asundexian was another blow to the expected success in the pharma pipeline. Now, the problem is that this is all not your responsibility, but that's the legacy of the past. Now you've got the responsibility to find solutions, and the shareholders have to accept the minimum dividend for three years just to allow Bayer to get back onto its feet again. Then the management also have to contribute to that effort through the DSO and their respective compensation system, but that will not be sufficient. At least, these announcements did not have any real effect on the capital markets. Mr. Anderson, how do you view the negative response on the share price after your first capital markets day? Which conclusions do you draw from that?
Why didn't you give us any medium- and long-term outlook? Many competitors, now Novartis, Pfizer, and Flexis, do so, giving their industry investors an industry benchmark to be measured against. Bayer should do that as well in order to ensure comparability. Beyond that, we would like to know how you can strengthen the pharma pipeline and the weak market position in the U.S. Could it help to withdraw glyphosate from the U.S. market, or will investors get ready for regular waves of legal claims? Are the provisions for litigation and damages sufficient, or do they have to be increased? Which specific improvements in productivity can be expected from the DSO program? How does Bayer compare in terms of management at hierarchical levels to industry benchmarks? How high are the synergistic levels between pharma and consumer health?
What speaks in favor, what speaks against splitting out the pharma health division? Is that something that you consider seriously at all? That's the elephant in the room, but we haven't heard anything about that. Mr. Anderson, today, at your first ASM, which is a virtual one, you distance yourselves from the shareholders, which is a missed opportunity. Many companies, also DAX companies, after the COVID pandemic, returned to a face-to-face AGM or ASM again. When will you take that step as well? Because having a virtual ASM is like shying away from confrontation with the shareholders, but you could win back a lot of trust if you were to talk to them face to face. Ladies and gentlemen, ESG criteria are highly relevant to us. When it comes to climate protection, Bayer is a pioneer, and in the DAX climate ranking of your investment, you rank third.
Bayer has got a convincing climate strategy, and the next step, it should also be put to a vote to the shareholders at the next ASM. Do you intend to introduce a say on climate? That's something we would welcome very much. Mr. Anderson, Bayer has to intensively deal with ESG progress beyond climate protection in order not to end up in areas of the capital markets where investors are hardly willing to invest anymore. There is still a high legal and reputational risk, which to a large extent goes back to Monsanto. This includes the glyphosate and PCB lawsuits in the U.S., the threat to biodiversity, and the advances of genetic engineering. And as long as these risks continue to exist, we cannot invest as a mutual fund investor. Now, how will Bayer once again be able to qualify for a sustainable investment universe?
Furthermore, we'd like to know, do you want to, in the future, follow the recommendations of the TNFD task force in your reporting? This brings me to the agenda for today. Ladies and gentlemen, we will ratify the acts of the members of the management board and supervisory board, but we vote against the compensation board under item 6. The new compensation system under item number 5, however, is something we approve. Then we vote against the authorization to buy back shares under item number 7, because the term is 5 years, and our voting policy only accepts a maximum term of 2 years. Well, before Bayer thinking about buying back shares, you should first be able to pay a dividend that is above the legal minimum, which is not the case until further notice.
On all of the other items of the agenda, we vote in favor of the management proposals. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Mr. Welling, and this now takes us to our last two speakers of that first round of questions, Mr. Gottfried Arnold, and then Ms. Sarah Schneider. Mr. Arnold, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much. Mr. Anderson, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, my name is Gottfried Arnold. I'm a retired medical doctor, and I'm also talking to you as a co-speaker of the Coordination against Bayer Dangers. I'm speaking on pentachlorophenol, which must not be confused with your, the problematic substance, PCB, which has also been addressed today as well, and on glyphosate. Now, both substances have been produced by Bayer Desowag and Bayer.
The Federal Environmental Agency in Germany, in Berlin, has conducted an excellent study on the blood and urine contents of about 2,300 children and adolescents aged 3 to 17. And the pentachlorophenol wood preservative and the herbicide glyphosate was found in these samples. Now, let me turn to PCB. Until it was banned in Germany in the year 1989, Bayer Desowag produced the wood preservative PCP. Twenty-eight years after the ban, the Federal Environmental Agency's study says that still 87% of children are exposed to carcinogenic wood preservatives, which can be detected in their blood. Pentachlorophenol, as well as glyphosate, which I will come back, come back to later, can cause cancer in the lymphatic system. For carcinogenic substances, there is no lower limit. There is only a kind of a macabre lottery as to when and where the cancer hits.
Let me turn to glyphosate. According to the study I've mentioned before of the Federal Environmental Agency, 50% of children, adolescents, have been exposed to glyphosate. The cancer researchers of the WHO, the IARC, have found an increased rate of various cancer types in animals after glyphosate exposure, namely kidney cancer, maybe also lung cancer, and with a high probability, glyphosate in humans causes the so-called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. That is a cancer of the lymphatic system, and the malignant melanoma, the plasmacytoma, which is a kind of bone marrow cancer. Now, that has resulted in numerous lawsuits against Bayer and the massive reputational damage amongst those who are supposed to buy your products. A possibly carcinogenic product, and to have it and leave it on the market, might be a business model from your point of view.
If you have products in your portfolio which may also cause cancer, then it might also make sense to sell prohibited products into other countries from your point of view, but for me, this is absolutely unacceptable. Now, let me also comment on your statements regarding glyphosate herbicides in the US, Mr. Anderson. Since 2016, epidemiological studies have shown pesticides in the US as being one of the co-reasons for blood cancer in infants aged between a few months up to four years. So hardly born, they are already hit by cancer because traces of pesticides hit these small infants, and because pesticide contaminants can already be found in the mother's blood, thus causing first damage in the unborn fetus. A life-threatening medical treatment is then required, which then, again, may cause cancer, further cancer diseases at a later age.
For these reasons, I ask the shareholders to vote together with the CBG, the Coordination against Bayer Dangers, against the ratification of the acts of the management board members. So these are my questions for the management board. Number one: How does Bayer AG intend to avoid follow-up damage, which is caused by permit to marketing of products, which have not been tested for their carcinogenic effects, such as PCB? And how do you want, in the future, avoid problems from the very beginning, like those that have occurred with PCB? Secondly, what are you gonna tell your children and grandchildren if one of your relatives or a personal, one of your friends is hit or is affected by a cancer caused by glyphosate?
Now, why do you think you have the moral right to continue to sell a substance in the Third World, which is suspected of causing cancer? Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. Arnold. Well, we still have some more speakers in the first round. Therefore, now Sarah Schneider will take the floor, and then after her, Daisy Ribeiro and Alice Werner are asked to get ready. Ms. Schneider, the floor is yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, members of the management board, and the supervisory board, my name is Sarah Schneider. I'm an associate at the Misereor Association, and I'm speaking as their representative here. Misereor has been fighting poverty and hunger in the world for more than 60 years, and for this reason, has teamed up with organizations in Asia, Latin America, Africa.
This is not the first time I'm talking to you at the Bayer ASM, and although for years we've been showing that with its pesticides, Bayer threatens the health of people, especially the Global South, nevertheless, we have not seen the company taking effective actions to counter the, these situations. Therefore, together with five organizations from Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Bolivia, and Germany, we yesterday filed a complaint with the OECD regarding Bayer's violations against the Bayer policies for multinational companies. Although Bayer commits to its compliance with the Bayer policies, its human rights policies in downstream of the supply chain, which allows for marketing of glyphosate and other genetically engineered products, which means they violate the requirements of this directive.
Therefore, in addition, in 2023, Bayer failed to develop and implement the necessary preventive measures in order to avoid environmental risks and human rights risks of those people who live in those regions where Bayer products are used. Instead of attacking these problems and use its influence on the downstream areas of the supply chain, Bayer rather refers to the authorities. But the examples from the respective countries show that this is not sufficient to ensure protection of the environment and human rights. Too often, economic interests are top priority of the national authorities. As a result, the damage potentially caused by pesticides, test pesticides, is hardly tested, and there's hardly any regulation. And even if there are national regulation that requires a minimum distance for substance to be used, even in such cases, these requirements are violated and ignored.
From Paraguay, for example, we have heard from farmers that on soy fields, which are very close to respective houses, pesticides are used irrespective of the wind conditions. It has also reported to us that the well which the population uses for drinking water is also used for cleaning of the pesticide equipment. Furthermore, farms also report to us that pesticides are used as a chemical weapon. Villages are deliberately selected as a target of spraying in order to intimidate them. Bayer still claims that their products are safe if they are used as stipulated. However, practical reality in many cases is different. We repeatedly drew Bayer's attention to these issues, but nevertheless, Bayer sticks to that statement. The attitude is not geared towards solutions, and rather indicates that Bayer does not take its obligation of due diligence seriously.
Considering these issues and your obligation to human rights as an international company, I'm asking you, which possibilities does Bayer offer those affected in the countries of the Global South to report potential damage and get compensation? How does Bayer ensure that claim mechanisms are available on a local basis? What are potential damages that you are willing to pay, and how many, how many persons have already reported such claims to Bayer in 2023? The responsibility of setting up an effective due diligence system, including the avoidance of negative impact onto those persons affected by the use of agricultural products, is first and foremost, the responsibility of Bayer headquarters here in Germany. Therefore, we call upon Bayer to actively participate in the mediation on the OECD complaint.
For that reason, I kindly ask the shareholders to vote against the ratification of the acts of management of the members of the supervisory board and the management board.
Thank you very much, Ms. Schneider, and we now turn to Daisy Ribeiro. She's going to address you in English, and after that, I will ask the other speakers to remain ready. Daisy, the floor is yours.
Thank you, good, and good afternoon. My name is Daisy Ribeiro, and I'm a lawyer at the Brazilian human rights organization, Terra de Direitos. I am speaking as an authorized representative. Yesterday, we from Brazil and from other five organizations from Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Germany, presented a complaint against Bayer at the national contact point in Germany, regarding Bayer's violations of the OECD guidelines, including impacts in the year 2023. We did extended research investigating human rights violations and environmental impacts due to pesticide use, and more specifically, glyphosate in soy production, which uses modified seeds that are more resistant to pesticides. The results show clearly how the violations that we documented, such as destruction of adjacent organic crops, health impacts due to fumigation or water contamination, are not the exception, but unfortunately, the rule.
This should also not come as news to you, to any of you, since the issues regarding pesticides use have been publicly known for many years. The impact of Monsanto's, now Bayer's, Roundup Ready, is one of the big examples of the tragic impacts of the current agribusiness model. In each country, we see how this model and Bayer's corporate practices are detrimental to the local population, and how little, if nothing, is done to prevent such impacts. The situations we documented are not exclusive to one municipality or country, but show that the problem is widespread in South America, and that Bayer is closing its eyes to it.
In Brazil, we often hear on TV, "If it's Bayer," the slogan: "If it's Bayer, it's good." And I ask you, as shareholders and the board, if after hearing and reading what we are sharing, you can, in good faith, keep repeating this statement. And therefore, the goal of our complaint is that Bayer engages with us in the OECD process to change its practices, aligning them to its human rights and environmental obligations. I would also like to address a statement that we often see from Bayer, that is, that what the company is currently doing is enough. It is far from enough, and there are no policies that address the specific problems that are very well known in the region.
It is a must that the company develops policies not only for their workers or those who apply the products, but also the people that will be subject of the impact, to the impacts of the use of its products, as well as the environment. Therefore, I ask the shareholders to vote on all motions against the discharge of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. Thank you.
Ja, vielen Dank an Daisy Ribeiro. Thank you very much, Daisy Ribeiro. This now brings us to Alice Werner and Roswitha Lucas. I would ask you, as the final speaker in this block, to be ready. Ms. Werner, the floor is yours.
Ja, vielen Dank. Zunächst einen Moment- Thank you very much. Please bear with me one moment. Vielen Dank, Herr Professor Dr. Winkeljohann. Thank you, Professor Winkeljohann. Good morning. My name is Alice Werner. I'd like to extend my thanks to you, to all those who have enabled me to speak here today. The Parents for Future Leverkusen, I would like to pose the following questions: Is Bayer AG producing PFOS-containing products in Leverkusen? If yes, how much table water, how much of the water is being used for this? And what is the company doing in order to produce more sustainably? Which measures are being taken in order to retain energy?
The Rhine, Germany's largest river and one of the world's most significant freight areas, is significantly impacted by this. The Rhine will probably not exist in approximately 30 years, and at this time, the glaciers will have melted that feed into the Rhine. Bayer AG knows that the Rhine had very little water, or no water at all in summer. However, Bayer still uses water from the river. So how much water did Bayer use in 2023? How much water will Bayer AG use in the future? How will Bayer ensure that in the future, that they will use far less or no groundwater? What does Bayer believe on the question of the groundwater being extremely valuable and that it should not be used to dilute chemicals? What is Bayer doing for thermal retention in terms of water?
\What are Bayer's plans in terms of trying to keep the cleanliness of water as high as possible, especially if we end up in a situation when the Rhine has such little water? After a fire a few years ago, foam was fed into the Rhine. I apologize, that was my printer.
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Is there a reason as to why the basin was not actually built according to the amount of foam? Has it been expanded to make sure that this type of situation doesn't reoccur?
2017-
In 2017, Westpol reported that there had been an agreement between the chemical industry, Bayer AG, and the Ministry for Transport to not allow tunnel assessments. The chemical industry is therefore responsible for the motorway problems in our city. The A1 and A3 are huge roads, and they go right through the middle of our city, which brings us to the next question.
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Is it possible for Bayer AG, at peak times, to enable the use of the hard shoulder on the motorways? The A1 crossing, as it is, seems to be sufficient. However, finishing the first A1 Rhine Bridge will mean that we have more capacity for the motorways. The second bridge will mean a radical expansion from six to 12 or 14 lanes.
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Does Bayer AG require this type of mega motorway project, or will we be able to make do with the motorway as it is without expansion? Of course, we need the move to green transport, but this also means that we have to change our way of planning. By 2030, we are missing any kind of legitimation because Mr. Wissing has been neglecting the required planning. Thousands of inadmissible projects and incorrectly planned motorways are being continuously built in Germany. Existing motorways are being expanded under the mantle of of maintenance, and this is turning the city into one of the largest motorway points in Europe. The Austrian Environmental Agency it certainly needs to examine its requirements in this context. The transition of predict and provide planning has to be initiated in order to be in line with the required recommendations in the Austrian studies.
Will there for future movements, the Alliance for Transport, according to a direct moratorium, agree to projects that are already existing and being built? This includes the second Rhine Bridge. The 1.5 goal is no longer realistic. Pacific states that are risked with sinking are at significant risk. Not achieving this 1.5 degree goal is basically a death sentence. The rising sea levels also mean that Germany's coasts will experience loss of land mass, and of course, there will be significant amounts of climate refugees in the country. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Ms. Werner. This brings us now to the final speaker of this block, Roswitha Lucas. Ms. Lucas, the floor is yours.
Esteemed stockholders, esteemed members of the board management and supervisory board, my name is Roswitha Lucas. I am a speaker for the Network Duogynon, and I am authorized to speak for Andre Sommer. As the wife of someone who has been affected by one of the illnesses we've been speaking, this—I can speak from my experience, and I would like to be able to take influence on the decisions that are made. I don't think I need to go into too much detail as regards Duogynon. 44 years ago, for 44 years, we've been fighting for the truth.
After 2006, when Schering was taken over by Bayer, those of you here in the stockholders meeting and those of you who are taking part online should feel obligated to help and to overcome mistakes and clarify these that were made under Schering. If there's nothing to be hidden, why will you not open the Schering AG archives? Why are the documents not made available to the public? You cannot, These cannot be brought to justice financially anymore. However, there is an ethical point here, and you should certainly disclose all possible facts because the victims and the mothers are degraded time and again in public. In the press, Duogynon is only referred to as a pregnancy test and not as a medication for treatment.
This means that our point is not being taken seriously enough in the public, and I'd like to cite the statement of a doctor of my husband. "Nobody forced their mother to take this medication." This was a horrid sentence to hear. My mother-in-law was prescribed Duogynon at the beginning of the year 1962 to ensure that her menstrual cycle renormalized after the birth of her first child. A few weeks after, the doctor prescribed Duogynon once again.
If you go back nine months since the birth of my husband, that was the second prescription. My mother was already pregnant with my husband. Which woman does not have the right to her menstrual cycle? Accusations have also been made: It's your own fault. You took Duogynon. You didn't research the medication enough, but this accusation is extremely condescending because it assumes more information was available than was. We had no internet back then, so any observations back then were only discussed in expert circles and not intensively, extensively enough. Expert medical journals were not shown to those affected. Many articles were written in English. For example, the study of Dr. Isabel Gal, who in 1967 wrote in Nature, the Nature journal, the research director of the Schering subsidiary in English, also wrote his results in English.
However, it is high time to offer the victims still alive certainty that the problems that they have encountered were caused by Duogynon, and I call upon you for those harmed by Duogynon and their mothers to ensure that all files, in particular, all of the files regarding communication with authorities, be disclosed as soon as possible, not next year, because the victims are not increasing, rather they are dying out. I therefore call upon all stockholders for all motions with CBG to vote against the ratification of the actions of the boards. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Ms. Lucas. Ladies and gentlemen, we now have a significant amount of questions that have been posed. The board of management will respond to the first block, and the further requests to speak will be called on by myself. I'd now like to pass the floor to Bill Anderson and the further members of the board of management to respond to the questions posed. I think you'll start, Bill. Mike?
Thanks, Norbert. So first, Mr. Tüngler, you asked when our performance is going to recover and what you should expect and when. In our Crop Science core business and Consumer Health, we intend to grow competitively and faster than the market over the midterm. In terms of profitability levels, we target a low- to mid-20% range at Crop Science. At Consumer Health, we are moving towards 25%. At our Pharmaceuticals Division, the situation is a little different. Our focus there lies on strengthening our research and development, and also continuing to successfully launch new products, minimizing the risks from patent expirations. Mr. Tüngler, you also asked about the current status of the Roundup topic and our measures in this regard. The 4 most recent Roundup cases were decided in our favor. We've won 14 out of 23 cases.
Legally, we will continue to defend the safety of our product and appeal against all decisions made against us. In addition, around 113,000 of the approximately 167,000 current lawsuits have ended with settlements or did not meet the requirements for settlements. This was communicated in our annual report. We continue to look at the issue from all angles, inside and outside the courtroom. This also includes more intensive cooperation with other actors in the political field, as is already underway in the USA. We will consider various options to bring this legal complexity to a conclusion in the interests of our company and our customers. As communicated, we continue to try to clarify before the U.S. Supreme Court; we're also no longer selling products containing glyphosate to private customers in the U.S., who make up the vast majority of plaintiffs.
We took this step only because of the legal disputes and not because of any safety concerns. Furthermore, we're constantly adapting our defense strategy in the proceedings with new approaches. We're trying to achieve greater legal certainty in the USA through political cooperation. As communicated, we are examining various measures to end the legal disputes over glyphosate. Mr. Tüngler, you also asked about our current stance on the topic of splitting up the Bayer Group. When I took office as chairman of the board of management, we conducted a thorough analysis of the various options for structural measures on the basis of a number of criteria. At first glance, there are sound arguments for structural adjustments. However, the four major challenges I mentioned in my opening speech greatly restrict our ability for structural changes.
We therefore came to the conclusion that our first priority must be to resolve these challenges. We are always interested in achieving the best possible solution for all stakeholders, and we're fundamentally open to different paths, providing that they add value. Our focus for the next 24-36 months is clear: We have to solve our four challenges and, building on our strengths, improve our performance. Mr. Tüngler, you also asked about our overall strategic roadmap and the next milestones. In my speech, I've outlined the four major challenges we have to overcome as priority. Together with the entire Bayer team, I will stay focused on addressing these. This means continue to strengthen the positive aspects while tackling the challenges in a targeted manner. First, the only way to tackle a pipeline issue is with more innovation.
We're speeding up the way innovation happens at Bayer by centering our processes on the people that our work is intended to serve. Second, on litigation. As mentioned, we're looking at the litigation topic from every angle, inside and outside the courtroom, and please expect that on this issue, you're going to see action before you hear about it from us. Third, on debt reduction, we're taking unprecedented steps to reduce our net debt. One early milestone has been passed earlier this year when we put forward a proposal to cut the dividend to the legal minimum. And finally, bureaucracy. We're delayering the organization and consolidating leadership roles for more impact. This is happening rapidly. We're becoming a team that is less designed for delegation and even more driven to create the best outcomes for customers.
We've already seen significant changes in our organization, and we're constantly tracking the progress, and we'll report on it. Mr. Hafke, you also asked about the next steps for glyphosate. I would refer you to my reply to Mr. Tüngler in this regard. Mr. Speich, you also asked why we do not yet have a say on climate item on the agenda for the annual shareholders meeting. The basis for a say on climate is a schedule of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero by 2050 at the latest, what is called a climate transition plan. We're currently working on our climate transition plan, and we're aiming to publish it in June. On the basis of this climate transition plan, we will then analyze whether we can conduct a say on climate at the 2025 AGM. Mr.
Hafke, you also asked whether the expenditure for R&D is reasonable and whether we are considering changes to increase efficiency. I discussed the research and development strategy for Crop Science and Pharmaceuticals in my answer to Mr. Tüngler. I made clear that our investment in research and development in Crop Science is the highest in the industry. This investment ensures that we are able to refresh our product portfolio every year, and it also enables us to advance transformative developments. At Pharma, we're confident that our investments in internal and external research will allow us to successfully implement our revised research and development strategy. You also asked about risk management. We're well aware that our business activities are associated with risk. That's a general topic for the entire research-based pharmaceutical industry.
We therefore noted in the Opportunity and Risk Report section of the 2023 annual report, that we're fundamentally unable to ensure that all of the development candidates in our current or future pipeline will be developed to the market launch stage, or that they will obtain their planned approval. Mr. Schmidt, you would like to know how the Board of Management plans to address the four previously mentioned challenges in parallel. The four challenges: patent expirations at pharmaceuticals and the structure of our pharmaceuticals pipeline, the litigation in the United States, our debt level, and our bureaucracy are interlinked. Each individual challenge will require attention in its own right, and we are already working with a high degree of urgency to address these issues. Mr.
Vernon, you would like to know how we evaluate the negative share price reaction to the Capital Markets Day in March and what conclusions we've drawn from this. Mr. Vernon, you also asked why we did not give medium- to long-term forecast. As already explained at the Capital Markets Day, we've adjusted our approach to the guidance, and we published a medium-term qualitative ambition on a group and divisional level. Regarding the share price reaction, I would like to say that without doubt, we are not satisfied with the development of our share price. Four fundamental challenges are negatively impacting our share price. We are confident that once we have overcome those challenges, it will reflect in our share price. Mr. Vernon, you also asked about the concrete improvements to productivity resulting from dynamic shared ownership. We're targeting concrete improvements to productivity in the context of DSO.
We're overhauling our operating model, and we're fighting bureaucracy. For the program as a whole, we're targeting efficiencies of approximately EUR 2 billion, which will then gradually flow into our financials. Mr. Vernon, you asked how the big synergies between pharmaceuticals and consumer health division are, how big the synergies are. On a general level, the two businesses differ in terms of their innovation and commercialization models. Nonetheless, it should be noticed that both divisions are active in attractive markets with global mega trends. On top of that, we generate some cost and efficiency synergies in our centralized functions, for example. Mr. Vernon, you also asked what Bayer is doing to make sure that its stocks and bonds can also be purchased by sustainability-oriented investors. You know that we've been making every effort for many years to improve our ESG ratings.
We've achieved major successes with the removal of red flags at MSCI and ISS. In addition, we've constantly expanded our reporting to further boost trust through increased transparency. This approach has been consistently acknowledged in talks with investors. Unfortunately, there are still some individual barriers which can only partially eliminate from a sustainability perspective. Mr. Werning, you asked whether a change to the corporate structure is actually a serious option for us. If you look at our company's history and compare the current day portfolio with the portfolio in the past, we have proven that changes to the structure were seriously considered and, in fact, implemented. Mr. Werning, you also wanted to know if we are planning to have a say on climate item in the agenda for the annual stockholders meeting.
First of all, I would like to emphasize that we very much appreciate the dialogue with your organization and the other investors in the Climate Action 100+ initiative. This engagement has really spurred us on to continuously refine our climate strategy. As I already mentioned in my answer to Mr. Speich, a say on climate is dependent on our climate transition plan, which, based on the current schedule, we plan to publish in June. We will revisit the matter then. Now, I would like to pass the floor over to my colleague, Wolfgang Nickl.
I'll begin with Mr. Tüngler. You asked about the PCB, and Monsanto has already discussed this. This was about 50 years ago, before the product was banned, and we also will have the defense arguments also for questions concerning environmental or building contamination, also with regard to health damages that have been claimed. In most cases, the products or the cause for the damage were not the result of Monsanto or disposed of, but by other companies. What's important here is to know that they have far-reaching liability exemptions with the buyers of PCB, and these companies then agreed to this. And then Monsanto was exempted from the cost for possible litigation. And then in the 1970s, they continued to receive PCB.
And we have communicated the fact that we are determined to continue this in order to also get reimbursed for these costs for litigation, and this is something that we have also appealed to the courts for.
Mr. Tüngler, you also asked us about our future investments against the backdrop of the current indebtedness situation and our assessment of the adjusted dividend policy. First and foremost, our objective was to drive sales growth and earning power, which in the long term will secure higher cash flow. This will contribute to reducing debt. Furthermore, we have conducted an assessment of the priorities in capital allocation. The upshot was that our dividend policy was adjusted. Of course, we continue to invest in a very focused manner in our business. This involves both investments as well as for current and new product introductions, research and development investments, as well as CapEx.
In total, we're talking about annual investments to the tune of more than EUR 10 billion. We are confident that thanks to the adjusted priorities with respect to capital allocation, in the future, we'll be able to remain active, able to take action strategically. You also asked about our financing strategy. Here, we have various means at our disposal, including capital market and bank financing tools. We're optimizing our financing strategy on a constant basis, and we aim to optimize the currency mix, flexibility, terms, and diversification. Mr. Schmidt, you asked about provisions for litigation. We are investigating various approaches in order to resolve the legal disputes. We are of the opinion that the company currently has sufficient provisions on its balance sheet for these legal risks.
Mr. Speich, you asked about the possibility of a partial IPO of CropScience in North America as long as we get a handle on the legal risks and possible evaluations. As mentioned earlier, we are open to structural options. We are focusing, however, initially, on managing our four biggest challenges. Mr. Speich, you asked about our assessment of legal risks. The litigation regarding glyphosate and PCB in the United States, of course, weighs heavily on our business. This is why we've expanded our strategy, and we're looking at a panoply of approaches and alternatives within and outside of the courtroom in order to tackle this problem. Mr. Speich, you also asked about our approaches with respect to legal disputes. We've already said that we are looking at various approaches in order to resolve the litigation in the United States in relation to Roundup as well as PCB.
These are being evaluated thoroughly. Mr. Schmidt, you asked about our assessment of the current business development and whether this is in line with our envisaged pathway, and whether the results are sufficient in order to make progress with respect to paying down debt. We are confident that we will be able to achieve our communicated short-term goals. In addition to the intensive focus on cash generation, above all, the adjusted dividend policy will help us to reduce the company's debt. We currently don't believe that we will have a short-term need for refinancing. Mr. Speich, you asked about the synergistic effects between the divisions. Generally speaking, our divisions are strongly based on our innovative prowess, and they are aligned to the global mega trends in the fields of health and nutrition.
We thus pursue a very relevant mission: Health for All, Hunger for None, and we are present in markets with attractive growth prospects, profit, and cash flow potentials. Cost and performance synergies can be leveraged, for instance, in the back office functions. However, when it comes to decisions on our strategic alignment, it is not a question of existing synergies that is the most important. At the end of the day, the performance of all business lines relative to the market and the potential of our businesses are decisive. In view of the current challenges, we have decided not to make any portfolio adjustments and to focus fully on the solution of existing challenges. Mr. Schmidt, you asked why the share buyback program with a term of five years is being proposed.
As I already commented in my brief submission on this item on the agenda, the Board of Management currently plans to exercise the authorization for buying and using treasury shares solely for our employee share option scheme. Within the scope of the employee share option program, in the agreement with the Supervisory Board, treasury shares will be bought, held for a brief period of time by Bayer, and then sold on to our employees at a discount to the current share price. We do not have any current plans to use them any differently. The authorization, however, very likely will be required for the next five years for the employee stock option program. Therefore, for the authorization, as other DAX companies as well, we have envisaged the maximum term of five years in accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act.
Mr. Schmidt, you've asked about legal costs of the lawsuits. We consider the legal disputes from a number of different perspectives in and outside of court. We don't wish to disclose anything or speculate on future legal costs at this point in time. They depend on a number of different factors, such as the calendar with respect to the lawsuits before various courts. However, we have formed appropriate provisions for this. Mr. Schmidt, you also asked when we can reckon with news on the legal disputes. In the last four lawsuits in relation to glyphosate, we were able to achieve results that were positive for us. In addition, we see great support from the agricultural associations in the United States for the strengthening of American agriculture, because they are championing a science-based regulation.
Together, we are ensuring that the farmers will be heard by the legislator and the broad public on this very important topic, and we will continue doing this in a very focused manner. Mr. Werning, you asked whether in the future, Bayer, in accordance with the recommendation of the TNFD, Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosure, will publish reports. We consider the TNFD as an important milestone in order to increase the reporting transparency with respect to the environment and biodiversity. As one of the companies that have tested elements of the TNFD framework within the scope of a pilot, we will continue to contribute to further developing the environment-based reporting together with the TNFD. However, we would also like to point out that there are still some limitations with respect to quantifying environment-based issues.
Our work is closely linked to the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. This directive will serve as a very important framework within the coming management report for fiscal 2024. In view of the necessity to further consolidate existing frameworks for sustainability reporting, we are currently focusing our efforts on the future reporting requirements.... Mr. Werning, you asked about the state of affairs with respect to lawsuits in the United States, and whether it would be helpful to take glyphosate off the market there. As communicated as part of the five-point plan, we stopped selling glyphosate-containing products to U.S. private customers in the very recent past. They represent the lion's share of the plaintiffs. We took this step only for legal considerations and not for safety considerations.
Mr. Werning, you wanted to know when we would return to in-person annual stockholders' meetings. The board of management decides on a case-by-case basis on the format of the annual stockholders' meeting. It considers the items on the agenda, the objective to have as many shareholders participate as possible, cost issues, sustainability consideration, and to the extent necessary, health protection. A decision on the format of the next annual stockholders' meeting has not been taken yet. Therefore, we cannot tell you today whether it's going to be held in person or in virtual format. Mr. Arnold, you asked a question with respect to the safety of our products. Rest assured, that the safety of our products is always job one for us.
In numerous safety and approval studies with respect to our products, we point out, based on well-founded scientific findings, that our products, when used properly, according to the instructions, are safe. This means that neither people nor the environment are exposed to unacceptable risks. Mr. Arnold, on top of that, you asked how Bayer is dealing with affected people and their families that suffer cancer. Our thoughts go out to all affected people and their family members that suffer illness, including cancer. But science has come to the clear conclusion that Roundup is not carcinogenic. We trust on the comprehensive and transparent scientific assessment of the regulators and authorities, and we are completely standing behind the safety of glyphosate. It has been used in a safe manner for over 50 years now. Mr. Werning, you asked about the provisions for lawsuits.
We're of the opinion that the company has formed sufficient provisions on its balance sheet for legal disputes. On principle, provisions are formed if based on a reasonable assessment that it is probable that legal procedures will lead to a significant outflow of cash. Mrs. Viana, you asked about the precautions that we're taking in order to prevent in the case of a fire at Chempark Leverkusen fire extinguisher products do not find their way into the Rhine water. Due to your general statement, we don't understand what fire in Chempark Leverkusen you're referring to. The operation of all three Chemparks along the Lower Rhine is in the hands of the operator company, Currenta. It is responsible for all company fire department, safety, and environmental measures in connection with any problems. So I would like to ask you to direct your questions to Currenta.
Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the development of the refinancing costs. Based on our current liquidity and the planned cash flows, we assume that the bonds that mature in, by 2026 will be able to be redeemed without great refinancings. The exception to this is the refinancing of the hybrid bond in 2024, with a volume of EUR 700 million. The share of the hybrid bond is not significant to the refinancing costs in the greater perspective. Mrs. Werner, you asked whether in Leverkusen, PFAS-containing products are formulated and how much groundwater we use to do this. Bayer does not operate active agent production facilities in Leverkusen, therefore, no groundwater is used for this. Mrs. Werner, you asked what measures we are taking to recover energy.
As a matter of principle, in all processes, we explore the possibility of energy recovery and have implemented these measures at a number of different sites. For example, at our research site in Wuppertal, we recover energy from the HVAC systems and also at our location at Vapi from waste incineration in India. Mrs. Werner, you asked whether Bayer AG is supporting various initiatives and, and NGOs in calling for a moratorium with respect to all planned projects and products under construction, and therefore, also the second Rhine Bridge. A functioning infrastructure is an important prerequisite for our business operations. We also need reliability in this point. At present, however, we don't see any need to promote any or initiate any further initiatives above and beyond the ones that we're already supporting. Mrs. Werner, you're asking how we're adjusting our plans to pass wastewater into the-...
or to use wastewater if the Rhine has a low level of water in the summer. We are establishing internal threshold values that go above and beyond the statutory regulations, and consider the low level of water during the dry months. Of course, we also are doing everything in line with the regulator's requirements. Mrs. Werner, you asked about the further extension and expansion of the A1 freeway. We're very happy that the new Rhine Bridge on the fourth of February will be opened or was opened this year. And if the construction measure is concluded by 2027, and that relates to the second Rhine Bridge, then traffic will be able to flow unhindered again. The German Transport Ministry has decided that the A1 and A3 must be expanded.
We're in talks with Autobahn GmbH on current planning, as are all other people and entities concerned. The depth of planning is too low right now in order for us to be able to examine the planning variants in detail right now. Mrs. Werner, you asked about measures for energy recovery from wastewater. We assess this on a regular basis, as long as this process is within the scope of our activities. Very often, these processes are upstream or downstream so that chemical park service providers like Currenta in Leverkusen are responsible for this process step. Mr. Wernig asked what points speak for and against hiving off consumer health. We have conducted an in-depth strategic evaluation. There are pros and cons with respect to a spin-off of consumer health.
But let me start by emphasizing that the consumer health market is a very attractive one. Our company has outstanding brand names and outstanding scientists. In the last couple of years, we can look back on a successful track record. We delivered very good results during this period. A sale of the consumer health division would give us cash proceeds that could be used to pay down some debt, but a spin-out would be associated with substantial costs and loss, and tax losses. We have also received indications that assessments are currently unfavorable, and we would lose a company that generates reliable sales and cash flows year in, year out. Mrs. Ribeiro, you wanted to know whether in Brazil we can repeat the slogan, "If it's Bayer, it's good," with a good confidence?
Yes, our slogan, Se é Bayer, é bom, underpins our vision: Health for all, hunger for none, on which we focus entirely. Mrs. Werner, you asked about efforts to make our production more sustainable with respect to the environmental management of our sites. I must say, this includes development and implementation of site-specific environmental protection targets and programs. The priorities are avoiding waste and emissions, recycling in all cases where this is practicable, with a suitable amount of resources, and minimizing waste and emissions that cannot be avoided or recycled. Mrs. Werner, you asked whether waste water will be fed into the Rhine during the dry months when the Rhine is not supposed to carry any water. The feed-in permits have been drafted in such a way that there are no effects on the ecosystem.
Should there be a situation in which the concentration figures cannot be complied with due to low water levels, production must be ramped down as ordered by the authorities. You also asked about how much groundwater Bayer used in 2023. Worldwide, this was 21.3 million cubic meters. Also, you asked how much groundwater we would like to use in the future. At our various sites, we use groundwater to various degrees. At many locations, special water management systems have been set up in order to optimize water usage. When we look at new investments, we also look at the ramifications of climate events and effects on available water. We upgrade our operations correspondingly. This also includes water efficiency installations. That was all I had to say for this round of answers, and I would now like to hand over to Mrs. Prinz.
Thank you, Wolfgang. You asked about future talent management, Mr. Hafke. Due to the new operating model, DSO, and the ensuing talent flow, the capacities of our employees in the wider organization are becoming much more visible than in the traditional management system, where only individual executive talent could be identified. This increases, for all employees, the opportunities of being identified as potentials. Today, as in the future, we ensure that switches in executives and organizational changes do not limit the visibility and appreciation of talent. We are firmly convinced that the introduction of the new operating model ushers in an attractive working environment for our talents.
Through DSO, we enable our talents to gain a broader range of knowledge, to be able to shape their career paths themselves, assume more responsibility, and to contribute their potential and capacities in the best possible way, as well as develop them. Mr. Hafke, you asked about occupational safety and the backdrop to an increase of reportable work-related accidents at Bayer between 2020 and 2023. First of all, I'd like to emphasize that the safety of the people who work for us at our sites or live in the vicinity is a great priority for us. Every work-related accident is one too many. The number of reportable work-related accidents, unfortunately, increased from 390 cases in 2020 to 457 in 2023.
This corresponds to an increase of 17% compared to the pandemic year 2020, during which a lion's share of our employees almost entirely worked from home. Due to the increased return of our employees to the offices at the sites, we recorded an increase in accidents on the way to and from work. The number of reportable accidents in 2023, however, is significantly below the levels of 2019 and 2018. We deeply regret that last year, seven of our employees lost their lives due to work-related accidents and traffic accidents. These were tragic accidents in road traffic during which or at which our employees were not at fault. We train our employees and the employees of contractors that work under the direct supervision of Bayer in order to prevent accidents and safety events.
We reacted to the increase of traffic-related accidents in the last couple of years, and we have increased the amount of training we offer in this respect. Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the current status quo of the implementation of DSO. The development and activation of DSO is encouragingly fast. As of April, more than 500 customer and product teams in all divisions have been activated. They work in the new system and therefore can accelerate customer focus and product innovation. At the end of 2023, we had fewer than 50 teams. The feedback from these teams to the speed of decision making and empowerment are very positive. On top of that, the adjusted organizational structures in Crop Science and Pharmaceuticals have been published internally, and in so doing, we are reducing management levels actively and resolutely.
By the end of 2024, we expect that all divisions and areas of Bayer will have begun to work according to the new operating model. Mr. Werning, you asked about our industrial benchmarks with respect to management and hierarchical levels. We believe that the point of departure of Bayer doesn't differ fundamentally from other companies that are managed in a classical hierarchical manner. However, our objective is not to compare ourselves to traditional management systems. Instead, we want to rethink our possibilities fundamentally. This is why, in our view, systematic comparisons are only of limited informational value. Mrs. Werner, you wanted to know whether Bayer AG in the future will allow or wants to allow the shareholders to be used on the A3.
This is a decision that cannot be taken by Bayer AG, but must be taken by the company that belongs to the state. And having said that, I'd like to hand the floor to Stefan. Thank you, Heike. Mr. Tüngler, you asked about our pharma pipeline and the progress that we've achieved. Let me start by addressing the second question. In order to ensure access to complementary technologies and know-how, partnerships are a fixture in our innovation strategy. In this area, we always consider commercial aspects to a significant extent. Good examples for our strategy are our acquired subsidiary, BlueRock Therapeutics, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, and Vividion Therapeutics, with their sector-leading scientific innovations. With them, we have significantly diversified our development portfolio and strengthened it. Our development portfolio of cell and gene therapy in seven programs has seven programs in various stages of clinical development.
In addition, Vividion, in the last 12 months, has transferred 2 programs in oncology into the clinical development phase. As a matter of principle, on top of that, I believe our pharmaceutical business is well set up for the future. Currently, we have more than 30 projects in clinical development. In this context, we constantly review our research and development pipeline in order to be able to push the most promising development candidates with priority. With respect to the developments that are in the late stages of development, for instance, the advanced development projects, we were able to achieve good results. We have good top-line results for the approval-relevant phase III studies. The examples of our good successes were darolutamide and finerenone.
The phase III study with our Factor XIa-... inhibitor, Asundexian, for the prevention of stroke with patients with non-cardioembolic ischemic strokes, and a high risk for transitory ischemic attacks are being continued. In 2023, we received for eight preclinical trial candidates approval to start a clinical trial, and we were able to, of course, achieve progress in other areas in the pipeline. Mr. Speich, you wanted to know how we want to compensate for the impending loss in sales with our pharmaceutical pipeline. We assume that the patent expiry-driven losses in sales in the coming years, here, Xarelto needs to be mentioned above all, we'll, we'll be able to compensate. We'll be able to be concentrated through growth with our new medicaments, Nubeqa and Kerendia, to a large extent. The market introduction of Eylea 8 mg is also expected to generate stable sales for ophthalmology.
From 2025 onwards, this could be supported by the first approvals of Elinzanetant and Acoramidis. In addition, we have clinical trials for Asundexian and the stroke prophylaxis. Together with a largely stable basic business, we believe we'll be successful in the future. Mr. Speich, you also asked whether a medium-sized pharmaceutical company will be able to keep up with the heavyweights in research and development. We don't believe that there's a connection between the size of a pharmaceutical company and its competitiveness. For decades, with our medicaments, we have been setting new therapeutic standards. This demonstrates that our pharmaceutical business is big enough in order to fare very well in the face of international competition.
In addition, we have a good technological basis in order to be able to implement new scientific methods in medicaments with a high therapeutic benefit and a competitive clinical profile. Mr. Schmidt, you asked whether the board of management with the expectation of the business performance of Xarelto in the current year is satisfied or feels well, and in what areas we expect further procedures of this type. In addition, Mr. Schmidt, you asked about the costs in relation to legal advice and legal representation. Our outlook for 2024 includes a variety of scenarios with respect to the defense of our patent situation for Xarelto. We, as expected, expect both negatives... Oh, excuse me. As expected, we have seen positive and negative decisions.
We can tell you that we are greatly dedicated to this topic and continue to believe that Xarelto will suffer a double-digit loss in sales. Decisions in other countries in Europe, like Italy, Poland, Sweden, and Denmark, will be decisive. With respect to the costs of legal representation, well, we have already factored them into our business plan. Mr. Werning, you would like to know how the pharmaceutical pipeline can be improved. Here, I'd like to refer to the response given by Mr. Tüngler. Mr. Werning, you also asked or the response given to Mr. Tüngler, excuse me. Mr. Werning, you also asked how our market position in the United States can be improved. The last couple of years, we were able to further expand our presence in the United States in research and development, as well as in sales.
Through the successful introduction to the market of Nubeqa and Kerendia, we strengthened our position significantly in the fields of oncology and cardiovascular diseases in the United States. As a result, in 2023, we recorded the highest regional growth in North America. On top of that, we have the entire worldwide marketing rights to Elinzanetant and Asundexian, which are in the late stages of development. Therefore, in the future as well, we will invest in the growth of our US business. Mrs. Lucas, you asked about the former product, Duogynon. Bayer continues to believe that Duogynon is not the cause of embryonal deformations. In the 1970s and 1980s, extensive studies and expert opinions were commissioned by renowned experts on potential causes, including in Germany, England, and the United States.
The result was that there was no proof of a cause and effect between the ingestion of Duogynon and the cases that were reported at the time. The same result was achieved by plaintiffs in England when they withdrew their lawsuits. The same goes to the district attorney who then stopped penal procedures in Germany at the time. In the recent past, in Germany and England, all lawsuits in this regard have been dismissed. A recent study published by the German Ministry for Health looked at the evaluation of the relationships between the then regulator and the former Schering AG. Bayer laid open the documents necessary for this. The study found that there was...
There was a big complaint or allegation of a collusive interaction between the supervisory authorities and Schering with the objective of taking Duogynon off the market earlier, could not be confirmed. Now I'd like to hand over to Rodrigo Santos.
Thank you, Stefan. Let me start with Mr. Tüngler. You also asked about our crop science pipeline and about transformative innovations in the next two to three years. We are further extending our long-term competitive advantage with clean research and development investment of EUR 2.4 billion at crop science. This is reflected, among other things, in the largest research and development pipeline in the industry, with an anticipated peak sales potential of more than EUR 32 billion. More precisely, we expect to bring 10 new blockbusters to the market over the next 10 years, include transformative innovations like our Preceon Smart Corn System. This year, the short stature corn breeding approach is in a target commercial introduction in the United States, and our biotechnology plant traits approach is in phase four of our pipeline, making progress towards an anticipated market launch in 2027.
In 2027, we are also expecting the launch of our fourth-generation herbicide-tolerant soybeans, which will offer tolerance to five herbicides, an industry first. Just one year later, we also expect to launch a resistant-breaking herbicide for grass weed control, the first new mode of action for the large-scale weed control in 3 decades. These innovations are an essential part of our vision to advance regenerative agriculture as the path to the future. Mr. Arnold, you inquire about the sale of substances in the third-world countries that are suspected of being carcinogenic. The safety of our products is always our top priority. Before plant protection products can be brought onto the market, it must be proven that they are harmless to humans when used correctly, and the environment is not exposed to unreasonable risk. Our products are safe to use when label instructions are followed.
Countries in the Global South often having different challenges that also requires the use of different plant protection products. A few examples that highlight the challenges of climate conditions, pest pressure, and crops includes the recent locust plagues in parts of Africa and Asia, or the spread of fall armyworm in Africa. Fortunately, we do have to deal with these challenges in Europe. We do not have to deal with these challenges in Europe. In other parts of the world, they threaten the lives of many people because without the use of plant protection products, their source of income and food would be destroyed. Mr. Schneider, you asked about ways to report adverse events in the Global South. Our product packaging contains a telephone number where potential events can be reported. Our website offers another option.
If we receive information that suggests improper use of adverse events, we consistently follow up to those reports. Mr. Schneider, you also asked about complaints and potential compensation. As I just said, there is a telephone number on our product packaging where suspected damage costs can be reported. Our website offers an additional option. If you receive information that indicates improper use of or potential adverse events, we consistently follow up on those reports. Possible and currently not apparent compensation requires an intensive assessment of the specific individual case and would take the respective legal framework into account. The number of global complaints has remained constant over the years and is in the low three-digit range. With that, I'll pass to Norbert.
Thanks, Rodrigo. Mm, Mr. Tüngler wants to know why Jeffrey Ubben is proposed for election to the supervisory board. Jeff Ubben covers the investor perspectives as defined by the nomination committee. He's a absolute financial expert with experience in areas of agriculture, as in nutrition and sustainability and climate protection. Furthermore, he's already been a member in more than 20 management and control bodies of publicly listed companies. As currently Bayer, many of these companies were in the phases of transition and transformation. Talking to the representatives of these companies, we have heard that Jeff Ubben has supported the transformation in the management bodies in a constructive manner and has very much supported the creation of added value for the shareholders.
Now, at Bayer, he has been successfully involved in the External Sustainability Committee since February 2023 as a member. Now, this term ends if he gets elected to the supervisory board. The nomination committee and the supervisory board therefore unanimously proposed Jeffrey Ubben to be elected to the supervisory board. Ladies and gentlemen, that marks the end of all of the answers for the first round of questions. Thanks to all members of the management board. I believe their answers have really covered all of the questions in a due diligent and comprehensive manner, and with that, we continue with the second round of questions. Before I do so, I, I'd like to read out one procedural motion. The annual stockholders meeting has now already been lasting for 3 hours and 20 minutes. We've got now at least 21 more speakers on my list.
Therefore, I'm going to announce that in 10 minutes, that is 1:31, I'm going to close the speakers list. So my request to those who still would like to take the floor, I ask you to now file your request to speak in the shareholders portal. With that, we now take the second round of questions, where we first have Ms. Eve Gleason, who is going to ask her question in English. And furthermore, I'd like to ask Camille Bouquet and Matthias Gaebler to get ready. Eve Gleason, you've got the floor.
Hi, my name is Eve Gleason, and I'm here to ask a question on behalf of ShareAction, a responsible investment charity. Today, I'd like to ask you about your approach to biodiversity. The ongoing biodiversity crisis is already having severe social, environmental, and economic consequences, from poor public health and human rights violations, to crop failures and natural resource pollution. As a central part of the industrialized food system, pesticide use is contributing significantly to biodiversity loss and must be addressed. The pesticides industry must commit to phasing out high-risk pesticides and adopt a credible strategy to reduce their impacts on biodiversity. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, signed by all 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, raises the undeniable relationship between pesticide use and biodiversity loss, indicating the need for companies to act now to reduce the impacts of their products.
Efforts to reduce negative impacts so far have not been enough. Bayer's commitment to reduce the environmental impact of its product portfolio by 30% by 2030 falls short of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's target of reducing risk to biodiversity from pesticides by 50% by 2030. That's Target 7. The Convention on Biological Diversity specifies that this must be done, reducing both hazard and volume, while Bayer continues to produce at least 50 highly hazardous pesticides. Will Bayer commit to aligning with the Global Biodiversity Framework's Target 7, reducing their risk of products to safe levels for biodiversity, reducing risk by half by 2030? ShareAction would very much welcome a meeting with you to discuss this further. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you very much. And with that, we continue with Camille Bouquet. Then I also would like to ask Matthias Gaebler and Silvio Rebecco to get ready. Camille Bouquet, you've got the floor.
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Camille Bouquet. I'm an agricultural engineer, and I represent a French organization specialized in the pollinators protection. I'm speaking as an authorized representative. I would like to talk about the European Union role of glyphosate. Bees and other pollinators are essential to agriculture and our food sovereignty, yet they are threatened with extinction worldwide. In Europe, the situation is alarming. 80% of the flying insect biomass has disappeared over the last 30 years. Numerous reliable and independent scientific studies show that the exposure of only bees to glyphosate contribute to this decline. They show that, first, glyphosate has lethal and sub-lethal effects on bees throughout their life cycle, impacting the entire colony. Glyphosate affects bee larval development, notably by delaying mold and reducing final body weight.
Glyphosate alone, or in mixtures with co-formulants, can reduce the abundance and diversity of beneficial bacteria in the bees' gut microbiota, making them vulnerable to infection by opportunistic pathogens. First, glyphosate impairs the cognitive and sensory capacities of young bees, leading to colony disorganization and reduced performance. Glyphosate impairs the learning and memorization processes of foraging bees necessary for successful flights back to the hive to transport the nectar and the pollen the colony needs. Disorientation of foragers inevitably leads to the colony collapse. Thousands of scientific studies compiled by the Task Force on systemic pesticides have shown the lethal and sub-lethal effects of your insecticide, Gaucho, which has largely contributed to the worldwide collapse of bees. The lethal and sub-lethal effects of glyphosate-based herbicides on honeybees and all wild pollinators must be taken into account.
My question is: Have you conducted any studies on the impact of glyphosate on honeybees and on other pollinators? What were the results? I'm asking you to send to the Coordination gegen Bayer-Gefahren the studies you've carried out on the impact of glyphosate on bees, on the colony as a whole, and on other pollinators.... Finally, I ask the shareholders to vote with the CBG against the discharge of Bayer's Board of Management. Thank you for your attention.
Yes, many thanks. Before we continue with our list of speakers, and before me closing the speakers list after 10 minutes, which have not expired, there is still one more announcement I'd like to make, namely, regarding the remaining request for us to speak. And as the chair of the meeting, in order to ensure a timely conclusion of the meeting, I'm going to limit the speaking and answering time for each upcoming speaker to 7 minutes. It's more than the average speaking time of the speakers of the first round. Your remaining speaking time will be displayed on the screen, and 2 minutes before the speaking time expires, it will turn yellow, and when it has expired, then red. And I reserve the right to further restrict the speaking time at a later point. But first, let's continue with the statements.
The next speaker is Matthias Gaebler, representing Patricia Gaebler, and after that, Silvio, Rebecca, and Cornelia Meyer are requested to get ready. But first to you, Mr. Gaebler.
Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann, for giving me the floor. Now, you know, for yourselves that seven minutes might be a bit too short for me, so I reserve the right to request to speak again later on. Therefore, I feel that... And that also will be confusing speakers if they see their remaining speaking time being displayed on the screen. But I'll try to be quick anyway. Mr. Anderson, thank you very much for starting your address in German, although you switched to English then later on, but maybe next year you'll be able to do it in German all the way. Now, one more comment on the questions answered so far.
I'm asked for more or better, questions, for better answers, because if, if you just give an answer like, a middle three-digit amount, for example, that's something that doesn't tell me really something. So here I expect the management board members to be a bit more precise. Now, on the topic of a virtual ASM, I've got some comments myself as well. You've already been criticized for that anyway. I also think it's, it's really essential for you to offer more voluntary elements than required by the law. Mr. Anderson, you're not receiving any applause, but no shoes and no... Of course, but we all know from WhatsApp and other applications that you can do, of course, your thumbs up, thumbs down, and at least these elements is what you could offer in a virtual ASM.
Now, after you're not doing that, I will, as a shareholder, will be a pioneer. Now, behind me, you can see my clock, and there you can see what time delay I have to follow your ASM, and then you can also see my email address, and you can send me any praise or criticism. And that is also my question to you, Mr. Winkeljohann, of how I can get into touch with the other shareholders here at the virtual ASM. Basically, that's impossible. Now, what's most important for the shareholders is the dividend. EUR 0.11. Now, I've gotta ask you, are you serious? Your profit is more than EUR 2.5 billion, and you only want to pay out 4% of that. And the share price is also terrible.
Since the last ASM, it dropped from EUR 60 to EUR 25. Now, let me remind you of one thing: in 2015, the share price was EUR 145. Now, do you think that this is really adding value? Dear management board members, when are you going to create value for the shareholders again? And this disastrous share price development, well, give me, please, two reasons why I should still keep my shares or even buy additional ones on that low level. I know, of course, the management board is not supposed to issue any recommendation to purchase, but still, you could give us at least some arguments that speak in favor of such a move.
Considering the share price, now, what are still the three biggest risks that impact the share price negatively, and what is the impact of the Monsanto matter? Did you still send out printed annual reports upon request? I mean, it covers 284 pages, and if you have to read it as a PDF file, then this is very hard to read. Therefore, let me ask you, how many pages do all of the documents of today's ASM cover, all in all? Then there's a bit of an imbalance in the agenda. The compensation report of the bodies comprises too many details, whereas the dividend proposal only covers a few lines. So there's a bit of an imbalance. That's why my question is: Why do the management board members receive bonuses at all, whereas shareholders have to settle with losses?
I mean, due to the share price development, the bonuses should rather be zero. Why is the share price not a criterion for the bonuses? Or do you do it like the Deutsche Bahn board members, who get bonuses, but while the on-time arrival of trains is not taken into account. And the maximum compensation of the CEO of EUR 12 million and of the others of EUR 7.5 million, I think that's all way too high and inadequate. Now, my question is, now, what is the average employee compensation, and what is the ratio between this and the management board's compensation? And what is the bonus element as a ratio of total compensation? Now, what is your progress in Germany and worldwide regarding the climate neutrality? Now, how high here is the share of taxonomy-compliant revenues?
This is really relevant in terms of your statements. Now, how high was the effort to identify all of these answers and findings, which is due to incredible EU bureaucracy? Now, what was the most expensive product in the company? What are the three strongest sellers, selling products, and which ones do you have in Germany? How high were the disposal costs for special and hazardous waste in the reporting year? And were the products also disposed of in the country where it had been manufactured? Now, regarding the EU Supply Chain Act and also the German one, just one key example: Which costs did you incur in the reporting year for haulage companies in Germany alone? And how can you here ensure appropriate payment to the truck drivers?
I mean, it's no secret that the Eastern European truck drivers have to work at incredibly low wages, and that's also part of your responsibility. How do you live up to that? What will be your three major investments in the current fiscal year, and which increase in staff cost ratio do you expect in Germany this year? I'm just gonna give you the, the examples of Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa, and others. They all ask for a 10% salary increase. What do you expect there? Which actions did you take in terms of IT security, and which costs did that entail? Did you suffer any cyber attacks, and what was the overall damage cost? Now, a few more questions on the ASM. How many people are working in the back office today? Which ones are internal and external ones, and which lawyers?
And how many shareholders did dial in via the shareholders portal in peak times and not only not through the public internet, and how many from countries outside of Germany? What are the overall costs of today's ASM, and how can they be broken down into the key elements? Now, at Vitesco, two days ago, they were also disclosed the catering costs, and then, well, I wondered, "Well, gee, catering costs? Well, with a virtual ASM, how can shareholders participate in the catering there?" But I was answered that this is team catering. Now, one more on the virtual ASM. You really should think very thoroughly about how you proceed with this in the future. It might have some advantages, but it's nothing really for a personal exchange.
But I think in order to cater to all of the interests, I think the hybrid ASM will not be implemented because it entails too many risks and costs. But what would speak against an annual or biannual in-person ASM and then having a hybrid one in the other year? Now, let me give you one example. On 28th of April, 1993, that is 31 years ago, I attended your Bayer ASM in Cologne. Now, that was the biggest ASM in the world, and it still is, namely, with 25,000 participants. And asking a speaker there, asking the questions as a speaker there, that's a breathtaking feeling, which I am still happy to remember today. I do not think that in the future I will remember any virtual ASM in this regard.
So maybe you should think about this once again and allow the shareholders to meet again in person. Now, I'm getting close to the end. No, you're already one minute past, so you should try to come to an end. Yes, I'm already done. Well, just one more thing on one supervisory board candidate. Ms. Schechter, I think, is absolutely inadequate because she squeezed out the free float from Celesio AG, and if you act in such a way against the free float shareholders, you're not an appropriate candidate for Bayer. So my question is, who actually approached Ms. Schechter? Now, then my question for you, Mr. Winkeljohann, how... Which possibilities do we have to ask follow-up questions?
I mean, I ask my first questions, but then I need to see which answers I get, and then maybe I would like to want to ask a follow-up question. Please explain this to us. And one more technical thing. I hereby ask for a full and comprehensive announcement of all of the results of the votes, according to the German Stock Corporation Act, and I agree with getting these results by email. One final question: What were the three biggest issues and the three biggest success events in the fiscal year 2023? And with that, I would now like to thank all of the employees who have generated that great record profit for the year.
But while the management board and supervisory board are rather still very thrifty towards the shareholders, and with that, I hand back to you, Mr. Winkeljohann.
Thank you very much, Mr. Gaebler. Ladies and gentlemen, I had announced that I would close the speakers' list at 1:31. It is now 1:38, so I hereby now, as announced, close the speakers' list. No more requests to speak can be filed on the shareholders' portal. Of course, those shareholders who have already filed their request to speak will be given the floor in due time. And with that, we now continue with the list of speakers who have asked for the floor. And the next speaker here is Silvia Rojas, followed by Cornelia Meyer, and then Mr. Hans Oswald. Ms. Rojas, you've got the floor.
Good afternoon, members of the board and shareholders. My name is Silvia Rojas. I'm speaking on behalf of Abel Areco from Base de Investigaciones Sociales, a non-governmental social research center from Paraguay. I am speaking here as an authorized representative. Today, I want to bring to your attention to the fact that Bayer ag products, in particular, glyphosate-based pesticides and genetically modified soybeans, are contributing to human rights violations of rural, peasant, and indigenous populations in Paraguay, as well as other populations in the southern cone of Latin America. Yesterday, with five organizations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Germany, we presented a complaint against Bayer AG at the OECD National Contact Point in Germany, regarding Bayer's infringements to the OECD guidelines, including impacts in the year 2023.
We know that there is concern and efforts to ensure worldwide food production, and that for this reason, Bayer AG strives in innovation on genetic improvements and in the production of agrochemicals. However, it turns out that the widespread misuse of this product, particularly of glyphosate-based pesticides, has had dramatic negative impacts. On the one hand, biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation in the Southern Cone, with the destruction of forests, savannas, cerrados, and wetlands, as well as affecting the way of living and producing food for peasant and indigenous communities. It is for this reason, we ask to each of Bayer's board members and shareholders to consider a thorough review of the company's due diligence policies established for the Southern Cone, including Paraguay, and we ask that the company strives for the improvement of these policies.
Likewise, we ask Bayer AG to intensify its commitment to human rights and sustainable development, and to make this commitment meaningful by making increased efforts in its due diligence, policies, and business practices in the crop science business. Here, I would like to bring a concrete example. Bayer has publicly committed to aligning its policies to address climate change, but so far only has a general position on deforestation and forest degradation. This is not commensurate with the risks of biodiversity loss and forest degradation that Bayer's Glyphosate-based pesticides and genetically modified soy seeds contribute to, especially in the Southern Cone.
I would therefore like to ask the following questions: Why has not Bayer implemented risk-based due diligence to address deforestation and ecosystem degradation associated with these products, as required by the international standards to which Bayer publicly adheres, including the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the OECD-FAO Sectoral Guidances? The Southern Cone of Latin America cannot continue to be the dumping ground for chemical products manufactured by Bayer, sacrificing the biodiversity, water, air, and soil quality of our region in favor of other regions of the world. It is necessary to seek a balance in the current agricultural model, which ensures a better distribution of the environmental and human burden of world food production. To discuss alternatives that are friendlier to the environment, without chemical substances that end up affecting human rights, quality of life, and the environment of indigenous and peasants peoples in the region.
Therefore, I ask the shareholders to vote on all motions against the discharge of the board of management and the supervisory board. Thank you very much.
Ja, thank you, Silvia Rebeccho. Und als nächstes-
Thank you, Ms. Rebeccho. The next speaker will be Cornelia Meyer, followed by Hans Oswald and Margret Rose Pücker. Ms. Meyer, the floor is yours.
Guten Tag! Hello. My name is Cornelia Meyer, from the Coalition Secrets Toxiques in France. I'm speaking as an authorized representative. Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed stockholders, in 2018, Bayer AG took over Monsanto, and they expanded their portfolio by way of herbicides. They bought substances like glyphosate, and because of all of the content in the preparations, these became effective. However, not all of the ingredients are even declared, as we know from various scientific studies. The same applies to biocontrol products. These are free of glyphosate. However, they do contain a combination of ingredients, which, according to a study of Cyril Junges, contain polyaromatic hydrocarbons and various heavy metals. This makes them herbicides and pesticides, and they are therefore very harmful to the environment.
There are particular substances, such as sulfur and so on and so forth, that are not necessarily difficult, but if they're used together, they can become very dangerous indeed. When they are mixed, they become a weapon. However, the studies conducted by Bayer don't actually refer to the entire cocktail of these harmful ingredients, despite directive by the ECHJ. Long-term studies must be carried out to measure the toxicity of these formulations of the product. According to EU law, these products should not even be on the market, these Bayer products. So I repeat, if the applicable EU law were applied, these Bayer products would not be able to be sold in the EU because there are no long-term studies regarding their carcinogenic effects. Pesticides have led to natural disasters all over the world.
There are horrendous sums of money being paid for lawsuits, and this money is then paid out as damages to the plaintiffs in the U.S. If we consider all of the money for all of the lobbying work, the sums are just huge. And we've just heard that in supporting an advocacy group, investments into pesticides are being made to put pressure on particular groups. Bayer had the opportunity to change its ways. They could have used money to really turn things around in order to achieve a respectful of agricultural policy. It's been proven that the agricultural situation is difficult, but this would lead to more food security for the future. By buying Monsanto, Bayer has damaged its reputation. This has not improved the planned pressure to be put on the U.S. legislature. The pressure to change these laws will be ineffective.
The board of management, in continuing down this path, will lead to a disaster, and this will be seen as a huge disaster in the future. I would ask stockholders to use their money for clean, future-oriented companies who hope for a safer world for themselves and their children, who want to be able to sleep well at night. Instead of trying to destroy life, Bayer could actually become a game changer and end up writing positive numbers. The stockholders, it's up to you. Do not agree with the CBG. Do not agree to the ratification of the actions of the supervisory board and the board of management of Bayer AG. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Ms. Meyer. The next speaker is Hans Oswald, and Ms. Margret Rose Pücker, and Ms. Tricia Olvera. I hope that I'm pronouncing that correctly. Please be ready. Mr. Oswald, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Professor Winkeljohann. My name is Hans Oswald. I am the CEO of a company. I'll go through bullet points. I'd like to say hello to all of the stockholders who are actually the bosses of Bayer AG. I'd particularly like to thank Mr. Gaebler for your excellent contribution. Thumbs up to you, Mr. Gaebler, and a green card from me. You did such a great job. We are certainly on the same wavelength. I would also like to particularly thank the employees at Bayer for the work that they carried out in the last fiscal year. We believe that this ASM has been carried out well so far. Thank you very much for this, Mr. Winkeljohann. Bayer Football, new German champions.
However, the stock price is still bad, so my suggestion is: get the team, get the trainer, put them in the supervisory board or the board of management. Alonso is a real artist in motivation. He's got international experience. Do you have contact to him? I'd like to hear a comprehensive comment on this. Dr. Achleitner, I'd like to say hello to you as well. I also saw your wife yesterday evening in Munich. She's in several supervisory boards. I'm not speaking to you today from where I normally live, rather in Munich, in my daughter's penthouse. I'm delighted to see you in Bayer. You've been able to do a lot at the Deutsche Bank, and I hope that you're able to do the same at Bayer together, together with Professor Winkeljohann.
Professor Winkeljohann, Mr. Anderson, an ASM is not an opportunity for us to pat you on the back. It is supposed to be a motivated exchange between the stockholders and the members of each board. Today, we've once again got the ASM. It is a complex conference. There are so many motions to be put forward. Our question to you is, do you have the company's best interests at heart? Of course, we want to be able to speak freely, and we want you to speak freely without a back office. We don't simply want you to be reading documents aloud. Mr. Winkeljohann, you're doing this well. Last year at the ASM of Deutsche Bank, you showed that this is possible. Please describe a typical day of work at Bayer AG, Mr. Winkeljohann and Mr. Anderson, also in relation to glyphosate and the same. Overboarding, Dr. Winkeljohann.
Many statements have been made on this for stockholder protection agencies. However, I see this point differently. You are the chair of this meeting. Moderator, you could also be referred to as a host of the board of management. Perhaps you could open up dialogue with me. You might have something to say. If you don't limit my time, Professor Winkeljohann, I'd like to hear your comments.
Well, let's do this directly, immediately. Perhaps you can finish your questions, first of all.
There was a time when Bayer's stock prices were well over 100 EUR. They then dropped off significantly to 25 EUR. Several stockholders lost so much money. The reasons of this are due to the U.S. lawsuits in the $ millions. Now, we're at 0.11 EUR dividend, which is ridiculous if we think about the maximum compensation of 12 million EUR.
That is an indicator of EUR 109 million. It is so high, Mr. Gaebler. Am I on the same wavelength as you once again? I think that that's awful. Mr. Gaebler, perhaps you could say something about this, about the dividend indicators. Many stockholders are disappointed that SDK and DSW are unable to call about hybrid ASMs. The compensation professor, Nikolaus von Bomhard, was able to increase his compensation by 100% five times. Incredible, and as a pioneer for this compensation spiral, let's call it. If— Is that what you are aiming for in terms of compensation at Bayer? Have you discussed this point with this doctor, or is there some kind of data privacy between you and him? I would like you to support my motions, counter motions, and comments.
As regards the compensation report, we call upon the board to limit the compensation increase by 50%. EUR 12 million of maximal compensation only for the CEO without any side perks, that is 600 times the amount of a salesman. And it is way beyond 500 times more than a minimum wage worker. So we're talking about EUR 7,000 per hour. So if we're talking about a 5-hour working day, you've earned EUR 35,000 per day, esteemed CEO. By way of comparison, the CEO earns more, 42 times more than our Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and 45 times more than our Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz. It is incredible. What we talk about in Bavaria is really a self-service shop here. What's your opinion on that? According to the Securities Trading Act, Bayer is an individual...
Bayer must offer an individual compensation report for its stockholders. You've done this, and I'd like to thank you. As we see it, the stockholder rights, according to the Securities Trading Act, require particular application. Any service providers and the boards themselves, trying to go around these rights is a particularly dangerous situation. Working against your bosses, so the stockholders, is something that we cannot accept. So basically, you're throwing those stockholders out with nothing in their hands. ASMs in hybrid forms, or many companies have been doing this for years, but no one seems to be brave enough to launch this idea. I'd like a statement on this. Could we come to the end of your contribution, please? Yes, of course.
If you would like me to, then I'd be happy to close this chapter on a hybrid ASM, and then you can limit my time, if that's okay for you, Mr. Chair?
Yes, please.
The Supervisory Board. I would like to table a motion on counter motion two regarding the ASM in hybrid form, and I would like the lawyers to adjust the agenda items to enable hybrid ASMs in the future, so that each stockholder has the opportunity to actually visit the ASM, be that virtually or in person. The chairs of the meetings and the board members have offered reasons as to why this is not possible, because it's too expensive. That's wrong. My suggestion is that this could be financed by decreasing the compensation of the board members by the amounts of an ASM in hybrid form. I imagine that's more or less what you think as well, Mr. Gaebler. We've also heard that this would lead to legal problems, but with all of the lawyers that you have, that shouldn't be a problem.
This would be a real shame if the stockholders paying for your lawyers were unable to enable this. The amounts that you are referring to in the compensation to risk, in the compensation reports are absolutely incredible, and I'm sure that this money could be used for a hybrid ASM. The stockholders are those who bear the costs. We ascertain time and again that over 90% of the stockholders would welcome hybrid or in-person ASMs, and I would therefore call upon all stockholders to table corresponding motions until this is indeed done. We have to come to an end. I'm almost finished. One more sentence: It cannot be the case that employees, and what I mean by that is actually board members, refuse to take on their work and the bosses, so the stockholders, are not able to exercise their stockholder rights.
The stockholders are the bosses, and they should be able to put forward petitions. Thank you very much, Mr. Oswald. We'll now continue with Ms. Pücker, Pücker, Margret Rose Pücker, and I would like to ask Ms. Vollrath and Ms. Korte to be ready to speak. Ms. Pücker, the floor is yours.
Good talk. My name is Margret Rose Pücker, and I speak as spokesperson. Hello, I'm Margret Rose Pücker, and I'm speaking as a spokesperson. I'm the first chair of Bund der Duogynon- Geschädigten e. V. Duogynon is a keyword that has already been mentioned, and someone has already addressed this point. Her question has already been answered. This is an answer that we are already familiar with. To be clear, Duogynon is a hormonal pregnancy test which is conducted with synthetic steroids. The consequences were that after ingestion, according to instructions, the body of the mother was flooded with 1.7 billion molecules of highly reactive norethisterone, 4 beta, 5 beta epoxide, which means that for each body cell of the pregnant woman, there was a ramification, there was an impact. That means that the answers you have provided so far have been unfathomable to me.
Two years ago, we contacted the Director of Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Ulrich. We gave him our documents because unlike others before us, before him, we have a chemist, fortunately, who is independent in his function and cannot be influenced. This individual is dedicated to science, as he emphasizes time and again, and for years he has explored this area. His findings are all publicly accessible. His findings have already been tested by experiments since the introduction of Duogynon from 1950 to 1980, he has compiled all of the findings, and the results can be found in our book, Deformities Through Duogynon. Duogynon, the pharmacy, the pregnancy test. The problem is that this pregnancy test is a test that damages nascent life, and the legal successor buyer to the company that introduced the drug says that they're not responsible.
How can you be the legal successor without accounting for the damage? The active agents, which so far have not been examined, there is no pharmacokinetic information on Duogynon. It is clear that Duogynon has harmed human life. We would like you to take note of this, and we would like you not to continuously contest scientific findings. These are not experts who simply allege things without any evidence. We have compiled all findings. All of these findings have been underpinned by experiments and are therefore scientifically founded. They are not political studies, statements. You are so unscrupulous that you have cited a study, a study that is subsidized by the German Ministry of Health. This study was commissioned by that organization, and this was conducted by a medical historian who has absolutely no clue.
He arrived at the finding that there was no cause and effect, and now you have alleged that the public authorities have done what they could. This individual, within the framework of Contergan, everyone is familiar with Contergan. It is so far the biggest medical and pharmaceutical scandal of the German medical history. But the Duogynon scandal is larger several times over because this product was sold, millions and millions of times abroad. We know that the rate of damage is over 40%. That was the result of a net study. These are findings that you do not cite. Instead, you are very stereotypical. You look at the results of the 1970s and 1980s and say they found X, Y, and Z, but you forget that in the interim, a lot of scientific research was conducted by very renowned institutes of higher learning and universities.
You simply sweep that under the rug. This is a strategy that is completely unacceptable because these victims continue to live today. A lot of them are disabled. Many of them can't work. Some of them have the bare minimum of money on which to survive. It is almost... I wonder that some of these embryos even survived, and they survived and are now faced by trauma and physical disorders and deformations. You use very simple means and methods to absolve yourself of this responsibility. I have been dealing with this problem since 1978 because my daughter is one of the victims. We published this book, and I ask you now, when are you going to have a chemist speak?
So far, you've only quoted medical experts or medical historians, but they are not capable of understanding the interaction between the Duogynon molecules and DNA. It is this reaction that can lead to deformations and cancer. In our view, this is almost an attack on the lives of the pregnant women and their embryos. Now, you may say that the statute of limitations has expired, but from a moral perspective, you are responsible, and I don't want to hear from you anymore that studies by renowned experts say X, Y, and Z. You don't mention any names. You don't mention the basis or the foundation for the findings. Instead, here, we have a book with hard facts. I would like to ask you when a chemist will finally be heard.
In this book, we have experiments, and I would like to know how you can counter them, not verbally, but in chemical sign language. Therefore, it is very important to me for you to tell me when you'll be in a position to react to this book. You have so many experts on your staff that I believe that a period of four weeks would be sufficient for you to then enter into dialogue with us. Do something to defend your position that Duogynon was safe. I am going to continue this fight until I am a hundred years old. I can't accept that such a global company that is a world market leader can basically absolve itself of all responsibility on the basis of these very empty statements. Thank you, Mrs. Büker, for your submission. We would like to continue with Mrs.
Tricia Olvera, and I would like to ask Mrs. Anna Korte and Marius Stelzmann to be on the ready. Mrs. Olvera, I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. The floor is now yours.
Thank you. Good afternoon to all. My name is Tricia Olvera, and I am speaking as an authorized representative of the Vietnam Dioxin Collective. We are fighting for Tran To Nga, who, for the recognition of Agent Orange victims. Widely used during the Vietnam War, this toxic product left a legacy of suffering and destruction that continues to this day. Agent Orange still kills today. Bayer was one of the main manufacturers of Agent Orange, used by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Between 1961 and 1971, nearly 80 million liters were sprayed in an attempt to flush out Vietnamese resistance hiding in the forest. This chemical, sprayed on forests and crops, caused irreparable damage to the environment and human health. Decades after the end of the war, the consequences of Agent Orange are still being felt in Vietnam.
Millions of people were exposed to its toxic effects, causing severe illness, disability, and birth defects in many children. The effects are transgenerational. Trần Tố Nga is one of the many victims. Her first daughter died of a heart attack, of a heart defect at 17 months, and her two other daughters and grandchildren continue to suffer from serious illnesses as a result. Today, Trần Tố Nga herself still has to live with many diseases caused by Agent Orange. On May seventh, Trần Tố Nga's appeal will open against Monsanto, manufacturers of Agent Orange, which includes Bayer.
The first decision from the judges, ruling that these companies had simply obeyed the American government by manufacturing Agent Orange, is an insult to Tran To Nga and the millions of victims it caused, especially as the companies that manufactured Agent Orange awarded $100 million in 1984 to U.S. veterans in exchange for their silence. History cannot be rewritten, and there will continue to be other victims in generations to come. Agent Orange still kills, but justice and reparations are always possible. It is time for Bayer to face the truth and accept the consequences of its actions in the ecocide and crime against humanity it committed. It is never too late to be on the right side of history.
This is why, as an organization, we're asking Bayer today: Do you intend to take accountability for the millions of Vietnamese victims that you caused and compensate them adequately? I therefore ask the shareholders to vote with the CBG against the discharge of the Bayer Board of Management and the Supervisory Board of all motions. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you very much, Mrs. Tricia Olvera. This brings us to Anna Korte, and then in the second block, as the last speaker, I would like to ask Marius Stelzmann to be on the ready. Mrs. Korte, the floor is yours.
Thank you for handing me the floor. Board of Management. I'm Anna Korte, I'll be brief. I'm a member of the Information Unit Peru. I'm speaking as an authorized representative from Peru today. The Supply Chain Act provides an opportunity for a dialogue with civil society and the trade unions. In the past two years, such a dialogue has started in Peru and has sparked a lot of hope. In particular, the hope has arisen that Peru could maybe be a lighthouse for the implementation of the Supply Chain Act.
This dialogue began, especially as the NGO, Peru Equidad, became a member of a platform for human rights and published two reports on the situation of employees at Bayer Peru, which was made available to the German Ministry for Export Control, BAFA. This included the effective dialogue with the affected groups, ensuring freedom of coalition and avoidance of precarious work conditions. Due to the reports of Fundación Equidad, Peter Pensalis, senior advisor for Bayer for sustainability, visited Peru in December of last year and announced that necessary measures would be taken here in Peru. Since then, however, there's been a standstill. There's... We employers-- Excuse me, employees here in Peru are not sure whether, and if so, what measures have been implemented so far, in particular, in order to promote the safety of the health of the employees in this country.
Against this backdrop, we have the following questions: What is your assessment of Bayer in December 2023? The sustainability report of Bayer from last year speaks of time-limited action plans. Was such a plan agreed for Peru? Has Bayer, since the visit of Dante Pesce González in December last year in Peru, taken measures, and if so, what measures are they? One of the specific issues was that representatives of Bayer in Peru are trained more in terms of due diligence. Are such continued education programs in place for employees in Peru, and if not, do you have plans for them? After the logjam in dialogue, uncertainty arose among the Bayer workforce in Peru.
So we ask you, since December of last year, has Bayer taken concrete measures in order to improve the relationships with the stakeholder groups, especially trade unions, in order to identify risks and to take preventive or remedial measures? What measures is Bayer taking to improve the relationships with the labor unions overall? Over a year after the enactment of the Supply Chain Act in Peru, based on the employees, no improvement has been seen. There is a complaint procedure now, but the employees don't have faith in it. Therefore, in conclusion, we ask the following questions: What measures has Bayer taken since then in order to improve the working situation in Peru? And how will Bayer ensure that the complaint procedure is effective and that it actually leads to the solution of the problems?
Until these open questions are answered, we recommend, together with the CBG, not to approve the acts of the Board of Management. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Mrs. Korte. This brings us to the last submission in this second block before we move on to answering the questions. Mr. Stelzmann, Marius Stelzmann, the floor is now yours.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this year again, the Bayer AGM scandalously is taking place online. Almost all of the other major German companies have returned to in-person AGMs. Bayer isn't doing this. This is a clear development to squash protest. We, the coordination against Bayer, have not been discouraged from speaking out. Bolivia, Paraguay, France, and a lot of areas in Germany channel their voice through us. The mobilized spokespeople confirm that Bayer products cause harm to human health and the environment worldwide.
I would like to recite from some examples from our countermotion. In our countermotion against the approval of the acts of the Board of Management with respect to Agent Orange, we suggest that we say that the Bayer subsidiary, Monsanto, produced Agent Orange for the government. Since 1950, Monsanto has been in close contact with the chemical weapons department of the U.S. military, and they're working on the active agent 2,4,5-T. In a meeting with further producers of the product to discuss the health hazards, Monsanto exerted pressure on representatives of other companies, exerted by the U.S. government to suppress this information. More than 4.8 million Vietnamese were subjected to this very harmful pesticide. 3 million continue to suffer the consequences, and to this very day, children with deformations are born.
This is why the Swiss publicist, Peter Jaeggi, speaks about a war that is endless. Now, I ask you, when will the Board of Management of Bayer Monsanto assume responsibility for the production and distribution of the chemical weapon, Agent Orange, and compensate the victims in Vietnam and elsewhere in the world? In addition, we have a countermotion with respect to Duogynon.... We've also heard from two spokespeople from affected organizations. They have expressed, personal accounts of the ramifications of this drug. I would like to ask you to take a position on this. As a legal successor of Schering AG, represented by the Board of Management, as you can see in our counter motion, the company is disseminating incorrect allegations on the active agents in Duogynon. All of the information with respect to capacities have absolutely no chemical basis and are therefore obsolete.
Although Duogynon was taken off the market, the company continues to use ethinyl estradiol, norethisterone acetate, in their other products. My question is: when will Bayer stop including these, chemical compounds in its products? When will you assume responsibility for the people who have been damaged by the product? And when will you compensate them for damages? Now, I'd like to address something I spoke about over a year ago. The Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation was initiated with a task of dedicating itself to, IG Farben. I said a year ago that Bayer has to prove that it is really serious about this. In order to do this, the Bayer has to apologize to all of the victims and ensure the proper compensation that paid out to them. I need to ask, has such an apology been issued?
What are the consequences that the company has drawn from its historic responsibility? What has the foundation initiated by Bayer done so far? I thank you for your attention. I would like to ask all of the shareholders to vote against the approval of the acts of the Board of Management and to speak out against the use of CBG. Thank you very much. This brings us to the end of the second block of speakers and questions, which means that we will enter into the next round of answers, and we will begin this time with Wolfgang Nickl.
Yes, and I'm going to start with Mr. Gaebler. He asked for three reasons why an investor should either keep their shares or even buy additional ones. We are convinced that with our business, we can create fundamental contributions and values. We are holding market-leading positions with our businesses in markets, serving global mega trend, trends and offering attractive growth and revenue perspectives. Beyond that, we're holding leading positions in research and development in all of our divisions, and since decades have been launching groundbreaking innovations in the important areas of nutrition and health. However, the share price is currently affected by four fundamental challenges, which we already described at our Capital Markets Day: pharmaceuticals, patent cliff and pipeline, litigation, net debt, and bureaucracy. We are working at full pace to master these challenges.
Mr. Gaebler, you asked for the three biggest risks that might impact the share price. Now, we report on our risks according to categories, and for that purpose, refer you to the 2023 annual report. In the opportunities and risks section, we classify the following risk types as high: socio, social and macroeconomic trends, regulatory changes, research and development, supply security, and information technology. The specific legal risks can be found in attachment number 30 of the report, namely legal risks as part of the annual financial statements of the Bayer group. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked how we create value for the shareholders. Now, we're not satisfied with the development of share price either. On the occasion of the Capital Markets Day, we disclosed our strategy. We have identified four challenges for the company, which we want to tackle intensively in the years to come.
We are convinced that the solution of these issues, together with an increased performance, will finally also manifest itself in the valuation of the company. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked which actions had been taken in the reporting year in terms of IT security and which costs were entailed. Now, our IT security action focus on the comprehensive improvement of security of end devices, service, and cloud solutions. We consistently and systematically track new approaches to identify risks, for example, based upon data analysis and machine learning. Bayer has got obligatory, continuous, and optional training and programs for on IT security to draw our attentions, our staffers—staff sensibility, awareness to it. We spend about 7% of IT budget for cyber security, which is in the low EUR 100 million area. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about the disposal costs for hazardous waste in 2023.
These costs amounted to about EUR 220 million, and almost exclusively, or almost always, disposal took place on a local basis. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked whether we did have any cyberattacks and how high the overall damage was. All companies are exposed to cyberattacks. Our proactive action at Bayer includes controls, identification functions, and response processes, and have made sure that such events did not have any material impact. Mr. Gaebler, you asked for the three biggest investments in the current fiscal year. The three biggest investment projects in fiscal year 2024 are: establishing and operating a phosphate mine in Soda Springs, Caldwell Canyon in the U.S., the construction of a new production facility for new tablet products in Leverkusen, and thirdly, construction of a new multifunctional complex of buildings, including laboratories, offices, and a greenhouse in Monheim.
Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the progress in terms of climate neutrality globally and in Germany. In the year 2023, we had already reduced more than 20% of our own greenhouse gas emissions compared to the reference year 2019. In Germany, in the same period, we reduced our emissions by about 17%, but we had already contractually agreed upon additional action for the next three years, for example, by sourcing electricity from renewable energy sources. On top of that, there's global compensation of greenhouse gas emissions by projects which contribute to climate protection. Additionally, to the amount in the range of about 20% of our own emissions. Overall, we are thus on our target path, namely to reach climate neutrality by 2030.
Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about the cost of the virtual ASM 2024 and how this breakdown breaks down into the biggest items. The costs of this virtual ASM is something which we do not have finally available yet because this ASM is not over yet. However, we expect the costs to range between EUR 2.5 million and EUR 3 million. The biggest items is the technical equipment required for the event, for transmission and the back office, including personnel costs, as well as the postage required to distribute the documents by mail. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked whether we still send out printed annual reports. For a couple of years, we do not provide our annual report as a printed version anymore. The reason is the increasing use of digital media. Instead, we provide our annual report electronically.
Thus, we are in line with the trend towards digitalization. At the same time, we protect our environment by foregoing the printing and distribution processes. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked whether we, we couldn't switch back and forth between virtual and in-person ASMs. I refer to my response to Mr. Werning's question on a possible return to a face-to-face ASM. The management board in every individual case decides on the format of the ASM. Doing so, they will take the items on the agenda into account, the objective of a broad-based participation of shareholders, cost aspects and sustainability requirements, and if necessary, also protection of health. A decision on the format will thus be taken on an annual basis. Mr. Oswald, you asked whether we are in touch with Xabi Alonso.
We know that the success of the Bayer 04 soccer club is mainly due to Xabi Alonso's performance, and we believe he's an outstanding manager and coach. Now, Bayer AG has got a sports coordination department, which is in permanent contact with all sports association, also our professional, soccer team. But beyond that, various employees, including the CEO, do have a personal contact with Xabi Alonso. Ms. Gleason, you asked about our strategy on biodiversity. Bayer supports the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to maintain biodiversity and to maintain a life in accordance with nature. We are fully aware of the ecological challenges. For this reason, we have committed to ambitious sustainability goals which apply to our own activities, as well as the up and downstream areas of the value chain.
This includes the objectives that you already mentioned, namely, to reduce the environmental impact of our global pesticide portfolio per hectare by 30% by 2030. This is in line with the general objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework. The scientific basis of this framework has identified five main reasons for the loss of biodiversity, with the change in the use of land has the biggest impact onto biodiversity. Pollution, which includes a wide range of contamination of the natural environment, including pesticides and fertilizers, is considered as one of the less influential factors. It is important for us to have a discussion on so-called highly hazardous pesticides, pesticides and agricultural chemicals being done on a scientific basis, taking a solid risk assessment into account.
The benefits of the product and availability of alternative options must be taken into account, just as possible risk mitigation factors. As a company, we are committed to the FAO Code of Conduct on pesticide management and support the criteria to identify AHPs as established by the FAO. Together with other companies in the agricultural chemical industry, we have committed as members of the CropLife International Association, to reduce the dependency from AHPs in the future, an objective that we want to achieve by transitioning to new, more innovative chemicals. We're looking forward to the further exchange on this topic with you and other investors on June tenth of this year. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the share of taxonomy ratios and taxonomy-compliant revenues.
Now, here we can tell you that our taxonomy-compliant revenues amount to about EUR 18 billion, which is equivalent to about 38.4% of our total revenues. Taxonomy, well, none of the revenues of these are taxonomy compliant. The other ones would be taxonomy eligible. That's the difference here. And you also asked about a reasonable ratio regarding the relevance. Well, we can tell you that the EU taxonomy is not really expedient for our divisions because there is no reasonable measurability for medical devices. That's also the reason why our sustainability targets are not tied to the EU taxonomy, but we rather have developed our own long-term targets. You asked also for the time and financial efforts required to identify these facts.
Well, as the EU taxonomy requires a comprehensive analysis of the economic activities regarding their environmental compatibility, the cost and time required is relatively high. We cannot fully quantify this yet, because we already have a comprehensive sustainability report, which means we do have a significant overlap there anyway. Mr. Gaebler, you asked then also which or how many lawyers are present in the back office today. Well, we've got 15 in-house lawyers working in the back office, one internal patent lawyer, and two external lawyers. Mr. Gaebler, you asked to what extent the taxonomy-compliant revenues will increase in the next years. Well, here, let me answer that a comprehensive taxonomy analysis is required to determine taxonomy compliance. Further, taxonomy in many areas is still subject to further development.
Therefore, the question cannot be answered on the basis of, financial revenues plans only, but it requires an analysis which must be conducted for individual substances, which we do not have available yet as of today. That's all from me, and with that, I hand over to you, Heike.
Thank you. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about increases in staff in Germany. The quotient of our entire staff in comparison to the sales we have made in Germany will remain stable. Increases in wages for other German companies are a point that we do not comment on. By way of orientation for our bills, we'd like to refer to the applicable contracts that provide for an increase of 3.25% to the first of January 2024. As to whether there are needs for modification, that is, of course, something we'll have to wait and see. And with that, I'd like to pass the floor to Stefan Oelrich.
Thank you very much, Ms. Pücker. You asked about Duogynon, Duogynon. I already answered this question with my answer to Ms. Lucas, and I'd then like to pass the floor to Rodrigo.
Thank you, Stefan. Mrs. Bouquet, you asked about the impact of glyphosate on honeybees and other pollinators and about respective studies. Honeybees and other beneficial insects play a central role in agriculture because many plants are not wind-pollinated, but rely on pollinating insects. The scientific dossier for the reapproval of glyphosate in the European Union included 1,500 studies and the evaluation of over 12,000 scientific articles with regard to the relevance and reliability of the data. Studies on bees and pollinators were also part of the dossier. Glyphosate has been extensively tested in the laboratory and in the field to assess potential toxicity to honeybees. These extensive tests have shown that glyphosate products has no acute or chronic negative effects on honeybees.
When analyzing the effects of glyphosate on human and animal health and on the environment, the responsible European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, did not identify any critical problem areas. With that, I'll pass to Mr. Norbert.
Yeah, thanks, Rodrigo. Herr Gaebler, thank you very much. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the ESG goals as well as the amount and the short-term and long-term success compensation measured by total income. The goals for inclusive growth and climate protection are part of the LTI, short for long-term variable compensation of the executive board of management and the leading employees. You can find an overview of the six more specific basic KPIs in our compensation report 2023. The sustainable goals are weighted at 20% with a multiplier of the LTI. The share of the LTI of the entire compensation is, of course, dependent on the degree to which the goal has been achieved. If we're talking about 100%, then the share of the LTI is approximately between 40% and 60% of the direct compensation.
In terms of the short-term variable cash compensation, the sustainability promise was also a very important point. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked who precisely proposed Ms. Schechter and the other candidates to election in the supervisory board? Nomination of the candidates for election in the supervisory board is, of course, carried out very carefully. In that context, I carried out discussions with the candidates. First contact with the vetted candidates were also carried out by a consultant for staffing. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the maximum compensation of board of management members. According to the required definition, the maximum compensation with all other perks is certainly within the normal market range. You also asked about the comparison between employees and members of the board of management. The comparative factor is approximately 35 between the CEO of the company and the employees.
There was then a question of a problem. Oh, no, that was the question, sorry. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about the length of the compensation report. Of course, it's important to us to have a simple and easily understandable compensation report. However, there are also requirements according to paragraph 162 of the Securities Trading Act, that provide for the content and structure of the compensation report. You also asked about KPIs for variable compensation of the board of management and why, this was not important for the share price. There is a question of shared ownership, long-term incentive, and we also have the shared ownership guidelines, which also mean that the members are obliged to purchase Bayer shares. Furthermore, you asked about how appropriate the paid variable compensation was.
The direct compensation in 2023, on average, was approximately 13% of the promised variable target direct compensation, in comparison to 87% in 2022 and 92% in 2021. As we see it, this reflects a significant and appropriate link between performance and payment. Mr. Oswald asked about the appropriate nature of compensation of our new CEO. Taking into account the debt or the question of this, we discussed a level of compensation, which should be at least as high as that of the previous employer. We also placed value in finding a structure that incentivizes performance and is in line with stockholder experience. We believe that the compensation of Mr. Anderson, with this in mind, and with the requirements of investment, to be appropriate. Mr. Gaebler, you would like to know how the if it's possible to ask follow-up questions.
After closing the list of speakers, it's not possible to ask follow-up questions. You may well be referring to the right to ask follow-up questions according to paragraph 131, paragraph 1 D of the Securities Trading, oh, sorry, of the Stock Corporation Act. According to the law, this only applies when the question is asked within three days of the ASM. Of course, this doesn't mean that you cannot submit questions later on. Mr. Oswald, you asked about a typical day of work for Mr. Anderson and myself. I think that I can say for both of us, when I note that both roles do not offer a typical day of work. Every day is different; every day includes different and various challenges with interesting meetings and with very different people. That is what makes our job so interesting.
The glyphosate question that you referred to is one of the four significant challenges that the board of management and the supervisory board is currently conferring priority to. We very often refer to this in our daily work, and together with responsible experts, we are taking the possible legal risks into account. Mr. Oswald, you also asked about the relative progression of salaries and whether these were coordinated with Mr. von Bomhard. The goal compensation of the board of management was developed in parallel in past years, according to the German Corporate Governance Codex. We believe that this is appropriate, and we did not discuss this with Mr. von Bomhard. Mr. Oswald, you referred to the maximum compensation of the board of management and compared it to the dividends paid, and asked whether this wasn't a very disappointing ratio.
The possible maximum compensation of the board of management is provided for in the compensation report. The dividend indicator of EUR 0.11 for fiscal year 2023 is not linked directly to a potential maximum compensation in the future. Mr. Oswald, you asked how the board of management and supervisory board maintains exchange with stockholders. As you've correctly described, our stockholders are ultimately the owners of a company that is owned by its stockholders. Our board of management often has discussions with its stockholders, and we take on all critical points of criticism and comments, and we are always interested to achieve the best possible results for our advocacy groups. Mr. Gaebler, you asked how many stockholders at the ASM had joined the active stockholder portal, and how many of these came from non-German speaking countries?
We had 450 stockholders at the highest number. Approximately 20 of these are from non-German speaking countries. In the public stream, at its highest, we had more than 5,000 interested persons. And I'd now like to pass the floor to Bill Anderson.
Danke, Norbert. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the greatest success for the management board in the current financial year. We'll be happy to comment on the current financial year after the year has ended, but the past financial year undoubtedly had its challenges with the profit warning and the stop of OCEANIC- AF. However, we have made significant progress in other areas, including the innovation pipeline with Eylea 8 mg, and elinzanetant. We're also in the process of introducing short stature corn. Further, with our new operating model and dynamic shared ownership, we've initiated important measures for the future of the company. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about the biggest problems from the perspective of the executive board.
At our Capital Markets Day in March, we talked about four fundamental challenges that are weighing on the company and our share price: the expiration of patents in the pharmaceutical sector and the pipeline structure, the legal disputes, the level of debt, and the bureaucracy. That bureaucracy can prevent us from doing the best for our customers and hinder driving forward product innovations. These four challenges are currently limiting our options. We're working hard on these issues, and we'll communicate regular updates. I think that brings us back to Wolfgang.
Thanks, Bill. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked how many attend people are working in the back office, and how many of these are external? For today, we have approximately 90 employees in the back office who are ready to work in the back office as well. Two of these are external. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about the most expensive product and the three sale products that have the strongest sales and the number of products in Germany. The most expensive product, well, given the lack of comparability in terms of sales between our divisions, it's not possible to offer this exact information. For example, aspirin in comparison to a unit of corn. However, if we're talking about the products that offer the highest sales number would be Xarelto, Eylea, and herbicides on the glyphosate basis.
The number of our product families in Germany is approximately 180 over all of our divisions. Mr. Oswald, you asked why we do not want to carry out our ASM in hybrid form. The Trade Security Law Act provides for virtual ASMs, and we believe that this is a well-proven way of carrying them out. Hybrid, however, is not provided for. There are possible technical and legal questions that would have to be answered, and on this basis, carrying out hybrid ASMs is not possible in with legal certainty, and it's not done in this way by large publicly listed companies either. Mr. Stelzmann, regarding the IG Farben, you referred to compensation for victims and those who survived them. The question regarding appropriate sums is very difficult to answer in this historical context. You can't change things that have happened in the past.
The responsibility for the consequences is and remains as it is, and we see ourselves as obliged to make sure that this does not happen in the same way again, and that is why we have redefined our culture of commemoration. This is work that began last year with a sequence of initiatives... and we wish to use this and continue in this manner in order to deal with the problems caused in the past. In 2000, we also were one of the co-founders of the foundation of the German economy. This referred to commemoration, responsibility, and future, and we continue our work with this group. We are convinced that working on these, exploring these topics, also what happened during the Nazi period, is something that we must focus on. Mr. Stelzmann, you asked about the activities of the Finkelstein Foundation and the historical responsibility of Bayer.
The Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation helps the culture of commemoration in Bayer, especially as regards the crimes carried out during the National Socialist period regarding forced labor and IG Farben. This develops programs for historical responsibility and helps to bring it into the culture of our company. It aims to work against hate and totalitarianism. Mr. Gaebler, you also asked about logistic partners and responsibility in the context of the European or German due diligence and the Supply Chain Act. Our due diligence also refers to suppliers in the transport sector. A potentially high sustainability risk, if it is identified, can then be looked at from various angles, performance, and we can also consider development measures. We have committed to our supplier codes and to pay appropriate salaries.
These are practices that we want to have in order to ensure long-term relationships with our suppliers, and of course, we focus on human rights and responsibility for the training, and we aim to use these in order to achieve all of the goals. If we do notice that suppliers are not in line with this philosophy, then they will receive training and tips on how to turn this around. We had approximately EUR 166 million in 2023 paid for this. For the strikes of the Eastern European truck drivers in 2023, we were not affected. However, our procurement policies for transport services will be continuously improved, and we aim to continue to improve our procurement policies in this specific area. And I'd now like to pass the floor to Mr. Ulrich.
Thank you, Wolfgang. Mr. Stelzmann, you asked about our hormonal contraceptive. Modern low-dose combined oral contraceptives are an important method in family planning. Combined oral contraceptives are part of the most systematically used medications. All of our combined oral contraceptives have a positive advantage-risk profile if they are used according to their instructions. This position is based on a very careful assessment of the available data by way of health authorities and external independent experts and Bayer scientists. I'd like to pass the floor to Rodrigo.
Thank you, Stefan. Mrs. Elrod, you asked whether Bayer would take responsibility for Agent Orange victims in Vietnam and make compensation payments. We have great sympathy for the victims of the Vietnam War. However, Bayer sees no reason for compensation payments. It was the U.S. government that developed the specifications for the production of the defoliant Agent Orange. They specified when, where, and how it would be used. Agent Orange was manufactured exclusively for military use by the Monsanto on the instructions of the U.S. government. Mr. Stelzmann, you asked about our responsibility with regards to Agent Orange. We refer to you to the answer that I just gave one minute ago. Mrs. Rebecca, you inquire about our efforts in the area of human rights. Bayer is one of the founding members of the United Nations Global Compact, and it's committed to respecting human rights.
We are committed to fulfilling this responsibility in our activities along the entire value chain and thus in our global sphere of influence. We are aware that conducting human rights due diligence is a process that must be constantly adapted and continually developed. Just last year, we revised our global binding corporate policy, the Bayer position on human rights, and also published externally. The risk of human rights violations is a fundamental risk in the seed supply chain and therefore also for Bayer. In 2023, we continued to examine the human rights risks along our seed supply chain worldwide in detail and continue our measures to prevent and mitigate these risks. We have also set ourselves the goal of improving their, the lives of all through medicines and nutrition. Through our ambitious sustainability goals, Bayer is making an important contribution to promoting self-determining living and positively impacting human rights.
This is not only achieved by reducing our ecological footprint, but also by enabling many people, especially in underserved regions, to have broader access to healthcare and nutrition. Mrs. Rebecca, you asked about our product-related due diligence standards to avoid negative environmental impacts. The safety of our products for people and the environment is our top priority. We apply uniform safety standards worldwide that are even stricter than the local regulations in some countries. We have continuously adjusted our portfolio accordingly. Bayer has not sold any crop protection products that were classified by the WHO as Class 1A or 1B acutely toxic since 2012.
In 2016, Bayer committed to only selling crop protection products whose active ingredients have been registered in at least one OECD country, or in the case of the new active ingredients for which an OECD equivalent data package has been created. An essential part of our due diligence standards is our commitment to the code of conduct of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, combined with our high internal safety standards. With that, I will pass to Wolfgang Nickl.
Thanks, Rodrigo. Frau Korte, Sie erkundigten sich nach den Arbeitsbedingungen in Peru. Now, Ms. Korte, you asked about the labor conditions in Peru. Dante Pesce Gonzalez, the member of our sustainability report in charge of human rights, has visited Peru on behalf of Bayer, and on the occasion also met with various claimants as well as Bayer employees, the Bayer management, and experts in Peru. As a result of the visit, the local Peruvian Bayer management was informed about the effects of the Supply Chain Act.
Dante Pesce also presented a case to the ESG committee of the supervisory board of Bayer AG and to the sustainability committee of Bayer AG, and the following actions were proposed: training to secure compliance with the laws to protect human rights, addressing our human rights priorities, establishing a reasonable stakeholder engagement, improving the access to our complaints channels, strengthening the internal Bayer decision-making processes on human rights, and promoting and operationalizing and fully integration into management systems and our business processes. And with that, it's back to you, Norbert, I think.
Yes. Thanks, Wolfgang. Ladies and gentlemen, before giving the floor to the next speakers of our third round, I once again have a procedural announcement. The ASM has now been lasting for almost four hours, and we are, or almost five hours, and we are approaching to the upper limit recommended by the German governance code. Therefore, as the chair of this ASM, I want to make sure that we still have a proper conduct of the ASM. That's why the question for the remaining speakers to ask their questions is limited to five minutes.
The remaining time will be shown in your screen, and it will turn red, it will turn amber two minutes before the end, and then it will turn also red when your time is over, and then I will also cut off your challenge. I would now like to ask Mr. Giebel as the first speaker, and then Ms. Irene Mamani and Mr. Jan Pehrke are asked to get ready. Mr. Giebel, the floor is yours.
Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Mr. Giebel. I represent my own shares. In the year 356 before Christ, Herostratus, I think he was a Greek, was in the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. It was back then, one of the seven world wonders. It was burned down, and that was only done in order to be immortal. Since then, Herostratus has become synonymous in German for a person who destroys heritage just because they feel like it. Now, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Bayer is a cultural heritage, but I would go as far as to say that Mr. Baumann, if he didn't destroy Bayer, he at least will go down in history as one of the people who destroyed the most shareholder value.
I hope that he didn't do that in order to become immortal, so that people would call him Baumann, the founder and destroyer. However, it is a fact that all of these problems and the destruction in shareholder value can be traced back to him. Therefore, I would like to ask you the amount of the severance paid to Mr. Baumann in addition to his remuneration, which he received until the end of May 2023. Could you give us a detailed overview and breakdown? By payment of emoluments, bonuses, long-term components, everything that he continues to receive from you in terms of monetary compensation. And could you also let us know the level of pension that is paid to Mr. Baumann? What components is he paid out? Are there commitments to each sum? Are there commitments defined based on his contributions?
What is the net present value of the pension commitment to Mr. Baumann? I'm asking this because if he succeeded in destroying shareholder value and to a great extent Bayer, we want to at least know how much he is profiting from this. My next point is the emoluments in kind paid to Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson receives compensation in kind to the tune of EUR 3.985 million. So four million in compensation in kind, in addition to his other financial remuneration. By way of comparison, Mrs. Heike Prinz receives only EUR 39,000 in terms of non-cash compensation. Mr. Anderson, therefore, receives 100 times the amount of non-cash compensation that Mrs. Prinz receives. This makes me curious. I'm curious to know what is included in this non-cash compensation.
Please tell us the five biggest items of the compensation in kind paid to Mr. Anderson, and please justify to us why this compensation in kind is being paid to him. Please don't say it's just customary in the international arena, because then I'll ask you to tell me the basis for comparison and name individuals. Please also give me the five biggest items of the non-cash compensation paid to Mrs. Prinz. In each case, the item together with the sum allocated to it. I became aware of the fact that you will now address each other on a first-name basis. That seems to be hip and in vogue, and may actually help you when you work together as a team.
By the way, I know that in the Anglo-Saxon speaking world, it's customary to even speak to foreigners or strangers by first name, but it's confusing to shareholders. I don't know all of the first names of the members of the Board of Management, and therefore, it's difficult for me to put a name to a face. Therefore, I'd like to know, in addition to the first name, your surname, whenever you address yourselves each other, because it's easier for me to tell who you're talking about. Another question is: Do you intend to call shareholders in the future wishing to take the floor by first names as well? In the Anglo-Saxon area, that is customary. The next point I have relates to the Supervisory Board and the election to Mr. Horst Baier to the Supervisory Board. Mr. Baier has absolutely no academic training.
In the administrative academy is not a scientific institution. Therefore, I ask myself where his qualifications come from. As a CFO of a travel organization, a travel agency, he has obviously worked in finance, but isn't it too big of a jump for the CFO of a travel organizer to then move to a major stock corporation and assume responsibility for finance? Mr. Giebel, I'm very sorry, but you've already transgressed your five minutes. Well, here, I'd like to refer you to paragraph 35A of the Shareholders Act. Every shareholder must be treated equally, and in this connection, I would like to know the extent to which other shareholders have exceeded their allotted time. I shall now continue with what I was saying with respect to Mr. Baier.
No, I'm really sorry. am as chairman of the ASM today, I have to interrupt you. He is chairman of the audit committee, and in my view, he is not qualified for this. Mr. Giebel, can we agree on one minute? No. We can agree on equal treatment according to Section 3 of the Shareholders Act. And I would like to ask the notary to take to the minutes that there is a contravention of paragraph 53 A of the German Stock Corporation Act, and I would like you to take this objection to the minutes for all items on the agenda. I would also like to request that the chairman of the annual stockholders meeting be dismissed because Mr. Winkeljohann is apparently not capable of moderating this ASM in accordance with the requirements of the German Stock Corporation Act. I would like you to reach a decision on that.
Moving back to Mr. Baier. Mr. Baier, I believe, is not qualified as a chairman of the audit committee, and it is quite telling that Mr. Winkeljohann is interrupting me right here, because quite apparently, this is not something that he wants to hear, because apparently, Mr. Baier doesn't have the requisite qualifications. So I ask you again, where did Mr. Baier obtain the qualifications necessary for this post? Now, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Mr. Baier is over-boarded. Thank you very much, Mr. Gaebler. We now will interrupt your transmission, and I shall now call the next speaker.
Okay, in that case, I would like to go down the list. Mrs. Irene Mamani, the floor is now yours, and I would like to ask Jan Pehrke and Christian Schliemann to be on the ready. Mrs. Mamani, the floor is yours.
Yes, thank you. Good morning. Good afternoon. My name is Irene Mamani. I am from Bolivia, based on Fundación Tierra. Now, I am speaking as an authorized representative. Yesterday, we from Bolivia and other five organizations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Germany, have presented a complaint against Bayer at the national contact point in Germany regarding Bayer's violation of the OECD guidelines. One of the main problem in Bolivia is deforestation. For many years, forests cleaning is getting worse, especially in Amazon forests and tropical areas. Just in the last decade, Bolivia has lost more than 6 million hectares. Why? Why it's getting worse? The answer is very simple: soybean, genetically modified, soybean. Bolivia is one of the Latin American countries that produce soybean at large scale.
As many of you know, for sure, one of the main player is Bayer Monsanto, the transnational company that sells the agrochemical glyphosate. Bayer Monsanto, in the last decade, sold million and million of tons of glyphosate. Deforestation and glyphosate now are affecting environmental laws, violating the right of peasants, shrinking the territory of indigenous people. Therefore, we call to Bayer to take action as soon as possible. So far, Bayer has no, has no policy to address this problem of deforestation that is causing so many problem, even more in a context of climate crisis. Therefore, we ask Bayer to develop effective policy to control the impact on the use of its product in our forests and lands.
Finally, I ask the shareholder to vote against this discharge of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board motion. Thank you very much.
Yeah, many thanks. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, if you've called for the floor, please be on the ready so that we can call you. We can't reach Mr. Gaebler right now. Mr. Gaebler, we will make another attempt in a moment, but if we can't reach you, it will no longer be possible for you to take the floor. This gives me the opportunity to ask Jan Pehrke to take the floor now and ask Christian Schliemann and Mrs. Luna Miguens to be on the ready. My dear Mr. Pehrke, the floor is now yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jan Pehrke. I'm a journalist for the Coalition against Bayer. First of all, I would like to say that I agree with Mr. Gaebler, that shareholders are being treated unequally because they've been allotted different speaking times. But I would also like to say that I'm not happy with the fact that this annual stockholders meeting is being conducted in virtual format. There are no more objective reasons for this. It is apparent that management doesn't want to be confronted face-to-face with the concerns of the shareholders, criticism of pesticides, and of other products of Bayer that are damaging. The Coalition against Bayer, however, doesn't want to make its claim virtually.
We also have demonstrations in person. This morning, we appeared before corporate headquarters in Leverkusen. We held an informational event, and we criticized the massive destruction of jobs that is being planned by Bayer. Bayer has announced substantial job cuts, and they're not even for operational reasons. So once again, it is the employees who are paying for the mistakes made by management.
The employees are now footing the bill created by the management by failing to dispense of Monsanto or at least settle all of the lawsuits. Due to the high glyphosate penalties, 12,000 jobs have been cut. It's been nine years since the biggest health organization, the WHO, has identified glyphosate as potentially carcinogenic, which triggered a wave of lawsuits. Since then, Bayer has had ample opportunity to limit this wave of lawsuits. In May 2021, Bayer exited the mediation procedure, which the responsible judge had convened at the time in order to reach an amicable agreement. Bayer preferred instead to withdraw from this, the reason being that Bayer wanted to keep glyphosate on the market, but no longer be liable for the associated damages. Bayer instead opted to try and...
Invoke a ban on all lawsuits to avoid the litigious disputes, but this wasn't successful, and now a number of lawsuits are still pending. Bayer has tried to weasel its way out of the situation. Bill Anderson announced increased lobbying, or to put it in your words, a more intensive cooperation with other actors in the fields of policymaking. Bayer wants to launch a pesticide act in the United States and is using agricultural associations as a front. So this brings me to my questions: How much money has Bayer paid into the campaign regarding the law? And how much money has flowed into the coffers of politicians in the United States, both Democrats and Republicans? The next question goes to the general donations that have been made by Bayer in the United States.
How much has Bayer donated through its action campaign and committee? Through to the 18th of March, based on Open Secrets, it was $77,000 to the Republicans and $52,000 to the Democrats. But that's not the end of the road. Bayer is trying to cut its damages resulting from glyphosate even further. According to media reports, according to a proposal by Jeff, Bayer has requested for a partial insolvency in order to minimize the glyphosate damage. Company law in Texas allows for this kind of thing to happen, and this is known as the Texas Two-Step. So I'd like to know precisely from the board of management and whether they can confirm these media reports. Does Bayer intend to make use of the Texas Two-Step? Now, in more general terms, with respect to glyphosate, as critical a...
Shareholders of the coalition against Bayer, for years, we have spoken out against the effects of glyphosate at the annual stockholders meetings. In 2015, we received a detailed report. Three years later, Rene Leinsehr, from Monsanto, actually, mentioned the risk of lawsuits, or rather, posed many concrete questions in this regard, and this is because by then, a lot of lawsuits had been filed. Now, I would like to remind the ASM what he said back then. Please be brief, Mr. Pehrke, because your 5 minutes are up. So please see if you can wrap it up. He asked, "What is happening with all of the lawsuits against Monsanto?
Second, how much money will Bayer pay for the more than 5,000 lawsuits filed by U.S. farmers on the basis of Roundup and the damage caused by Roundup? Let me say that all of this was known back then. You knew what Glyphosate was all about. The supervisory board, the board of management, the press, the public, all knew. So let me ask you this: Why did the board of management in May 2018, when the Monsanto takeover had not been signed yet, why did you not react? Why did you disregard the questions of Rene Leinsehr? Now, just one more sentence.
In general, I have to say that the business policy of Bayer is to the detriment of the workforce, which is poorly paid, it's to the detriment of the environment, to the detriment of human health, and Bayer knows itself that this is the fact. And your sustainability officer says that, "People said that our products were damaging to the bees, and our message was that the products are safe for the environment if they're used according to the instructions and their labels." That is a very legalese statement. This was conceived in such a way that the environment would be harmed, I believe.
I don't think that anything else needs to be said, and I hope that the shareholders will be behooved not to speak in favor of ratifying the acts of the board of management and to speak in favor of the counter motions expressed by my organization. Very well. Thank you, Mr. Pehrke. Now, Mr. Gaebler, you requested that the chairman be dismissed. Let me point out that the articles of association regulate the chairman of the ASM. A deviation without good reason is not possible. Section 16, paragraph 1 of our articles of association specifies that as chairman of the supervisory board, I am the chairman of the ASM, and due to this rule in the articles of association, it is doubtful whether the ASM may actually officially dismiss the chairman.
This is only possible for a cause, but I believe that there is no cogent reason for this. Nevertheless, I will, as a precautionary measure, put this counter motion up for a vote. In order to pass this motion, a majority of the votes cast will have to be sufficient. This vote will be conducted via the shareholder portal. You can cast your vote by absentee ballot or by issuing instructions to the proxies nominated by the company. So those in favor of Mr. Giebel's motion to dismiss the chairman of the annual stockholders meeting, please tick yes. Those against, please tick no. Those who wish to abstain should please tick the box, abstention. I now announce that I am interrupting the annual stockholders meeting at 5:23 P.M. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm going to interrupt the annual stockholders meeting for a vote on this motion.
At 3:23 P.M., we will then reconvene the annual stockholders meeting. You will be able to cast your votes via the shareholder portal. As I mentioned before, the transmission of the annual stockholders meeting is now going to be interrupted for a short period of time and resumed at 3:23 P.M. So we will take a five-minute break.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's now 3:26 P.M. I said we would stop until 3:23 P.M. We're going to continue, as I announced, a couple of minutes late. We had the votes by absentee ballot, as well as the instructions to the company's proxies and other changes for voting the chairman out of office. It's no longer possible to vote. The technical team has taken that into account, and I'd like to ask the notary public to take note of that. The proxy representatives have released their votes in accordance with your instructions, and now we're going to begin counting the votes. Once we have the results, I will announce the votes to you. Until then, I would like to interrupt our annual stockholders meeting, and the notary will be watching over the counting of the votes. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, we would now like to continue with our annual stockholders' meeting. I'd like to announce the results of the vote for recalling the chair of the ASM, and I note and announce that we had a total of 427,236,844 shares for which we had valid votes. This is a total of 49% of the share capital. 7,865,060 votes in favor, that's 1.84%, and there were 419,371,784 votes against, which is 98.16%. We also had a total of 125,580,618 abstentions.
That is to say, 125,583,618 abstentions. That is to say that this motion has been rejected. Before we continue with the list of speakers, I'd like to give you some information on the motion from Mr. Giebel, and we had a formal restriction on your speaking time. This is in the interest of the shareholders in order to have an open discussion, and I allowed some of the shareholders and Mr. Giebel to go beyond the time limit and in order to complete what they wanted to say. That is to say that I have also given equal treatment to all of the shareholders who've taken the floor. I would like to continue with round three. Christian Schliemann is the next speaker, to be followed by Ms. Luna Miguens and then Matthias Gaebler.
Mr. Schliemann, you have the floor. Once again, please remember, we have restricted your speaking time to five minutes. Mr. Schliemann, go ahead.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Christian Schliemann, and I am co-director of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and I am an authorized representative. This is the first time that I'm speaking. This is not the first time, but the last time was eight years ago in 2016. The reason why I've come is similar to that time, and the problems have become even worse than they were back then, and more urgent as a result. I will be speaking today on the OECD complaint, which was submitted by a coalition yesterday, and this came from four Latin American countries and two more from Germany.
Basically, my complaint is Bayer's contribution to the violation of land rights, scarcity of food, and health damage, as well as major damage to the environment and the ecosystem, as well as a reduction in biodiversity, as well as air and soil pollution in this fiscal year as well, and this is due to marketing transgenic soy, as well as the question of the pesticides. These are something that they are resistant to the seed. In these four countries I mentioned, we have a large power, and we have a lot of business partners there. They have an influence in all aspects of the value chain, especially when it comes to seed in Brazil and in Paraguay and Bolivia. They also have a monopoly in pesticides as well, and that is why I have the following questions: Do you plan in...
When you come to soy seed, do you plan to return to the Argentine market? And if so, when do you plan to do so? And if not, and if not, why not? In the other three countries, you can see that your forecast for the next fiscal year... talk about genetically modified soy seed. And for all four countries, what market share did your glyphosate-based pesticides have compared to the general sales of pesticides in these four countries? As part of the complaint, we analyzed your corporate policy when it comes to human rights and the environment. We said that this is something which does not, has not dealt with the problems that I've mentioned. The value chain is not given enough attention. Risk assessments are only to a certain extent.
There are basically no analyses whatsoever, and when it comes to the environment, we see the CSR projects and also beyond their own locations. So this lack of activity is amazing, we find, considering the standards for OECD in agriculture. And if you read through this, if you think you're going to do things better, you can see that all sorts of regions in these four countries are high risk or red flag areas. And if soybeans, and we have excessive use of this and without taking into account the different pesticides that are used, and this is due to lots of documentation, we see that in the future, this is predictable as well. So I think without taking any further measures being taken, you will continue to take profits.
In the past fiscal year, as part of your risk management in general on the environment and human rights, did you also have partners in these downstream countries, which would be considered as risk partners with regard to the guidelines of the OECD? With regard to due diligence, would they need to be qualified? If not, why not? And if you have, what specific measures have you taken in order to have a positive impact on their behavior? To conclude, with regard to the downstream value chain, this is something that we cannot continue as a corporate policy, and this is an approach which we believe violates the standards which apply for corporate governance, for example, for OECD guidelines, for multinational companies, which you have committed to.
Against this backdrop, we're calling upon you to take a first step, to take these accusations seriously, and to sit down with the organization. After that, we will have to see that there will have to be long-term changes. Until this happens, I would request that this stock, shareholders do not ratify the ratifications of the board of management and the supervisory board. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Schliemann. The next speaker will be Ms. Luna Miguens. She'll be speaking to us in English, and then Matthias Gaebler and Christoph Then will follow. Ms. Miguens, you have the floor.
Hello, thank you. My name is, Luna Miguens. I am a member of CELS from Argentina, and I am speaking as an authorized representative. Together with, six organizations from Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Germany, we filed a complaint against Bayer, denouncing that the company does not respect the OECD guidelines. In Argentina and throughout the Southern Cone in 2023, Bayer products continued to deepen the damage they caused to the quality of the environment and the lives of people, especially those living in areas close to the transgenic crops.
In the city of Pergamino, where the company has the Fontezuela Experimental Station, until a precautionary measure established a buffer zone of 1,000 meters, spraying during the planting season was carried out next to the houses and school, and schools, without fundamental precautions, such as minimum distances or taking into consideration the wind direction. This generated serious health problems in the population near the crops. Medical studies confirm the relationship between these health problems and exposure to the pesticides found. It has also been proven that the products that caused the damage were products of the Bayer company. In addition, the excessive use of pesticides and poor management of the chemical containers that transport them generate direct seepage into the soil and water wells.
Also, in Pergamino, two studies detected the presence of agrochemicals in the water and concluded that drinking, using it for cooking or bathing, was a very high health risk. In view of these results, the courts ordered the local government to distribute mineral water to the communities most exposed to the fumigations. Bayer has dedicated enormous efforts in Argentina to get in contact with those who use its products in order to guarantee the collection of royalties. We would like it to dedicate the same energy to prevent the misuse of its products. In this regard, considering that the organization's existing human rights policies have evidently not been sufficient, what additional measures do you plan to implement to prevent harms, harm to people's health and the environment?
Finally, I ask the shareholders to vote with the CBG against the discharge of the board of management and the supervisory board on all motions. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Luna Miguens. And damit kommen wir zu Matthias Gaebler. That brings us to Matthias Gaebler, and he will be followed by Christoph Then and Isabelle Georges. Mr. Gaebler, you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Mr. Winkeljohann, for giving me the floor once again. I probably won't need the five minutes. I just have a couple of points I'd like to raise. Mr. Winkeljohann, you're a good chair, but maybe you-... I have too many lawyers behind you. Why are you in such a hurry? It doesn't seem to be taking all that long today. It's five hours. Well, 11:30, we just had management taking the floor, and you can see that just a few minutes ago, we'll hear that we'll be coming to an end very soon. So I think this is quicker than usual.
If we have just six speakers until 4:00 P.M., they've answered all the questions. There's no reason to feel pressured in terms of time. And when it comes to the corporate governance code, this is simply a question that Bayer is one of the largest companies in Germany. A lot of people focus on Bayer. A lot of people pay attention. Why are you in such a hurry? It takes until about 8:00 P.M. before the Deutsche Bank is finished with their shareholders meet. Why not here? So I think, who are the, what are the names of the lawyers in the back office, and what law firms do they come from? And ladies and gentlemen, why do you, what are your plans at 8:00 P.M.? Have you reserved a table somewhere?
I would like to note that there is a lack of right for follow-up questions. I asked for the floor a second time, even though I've already had the floor once, just to make sure that the right to ask a follow-up question is given. We don't have any objection here from the Notary Public. This is often the case in most companies. All we have is just a tick that is ticked off on the agenda item. This is something which undermines our right to make objections. I'd also like to add that Mr. Giebels was stopped from speaking. That's not professional. He was speaking to the agenda, and I don't think he was going off the subject matter.
He was not talking politics, he was talking about problems, and that's why I would like to say that we want to have a motion for the articles of association so that he should be given the floor once again. Because, Mr. Winkeljohann, I think this was not appropriate. With regard to his motion, I'd like to inform you and the Notary Public that when it comes to this motion, I was not able to vote because I was in the waiting room, and so I was not able to vote in the waiting room.
So I'd like to say, do we? I'm not gonna ask you to repeat the vote because my vote is not gonna change the results, but I think it's something that we should complain about, and this is something that the notary public should look into, to make sure that shareholders who are in the virtual waiting room are not able to participate in the vote. So next year, you should organize it differently. As a shareholder, if you ask for the floor at 9:30 A.M., then let's say four hours later, you get the floor. I have no problem with when I was given the floor, but I think we should have necessary information to know when approximately you'll be given the floor. And I would hope that all shareholders should be given equal treatment.
And that's why—why is it always the same people who speak at the beginning? I think we should change the order from one year to the next. I think the way we have done so far is something that... Well, I think this is simply not something that I would like. I consider it diminutive, but I see there's no objection here if we also see representatives from Animal Welfare might be given the floor, first of all. That's not a problem at all. So I think that brings me to the end of my comments, and you won't be letting me take the floor once again, I'm sure, for a follow-up question. But with regard to the background, we are a German shareholders meeting. Most of us come from Germany, so I think it would be nice to have a German background.
I'd like to ask you once again, and I'm saying this the way I read it, although I do know some foreign language, but what about this image in the background, health for all and hunger for no one? Why couldn't we have a German mission instead? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Gaebler, for that information. We will analyze that, and we will comment on that. Thank you very much. Then we have Christoph Then and Isabelle Georges. I don't know if there are any speakers to follow, but first of all, Christoph Then, you have the floor.
Thank you very much for giving me the floor to speak to you this afternoon. I come from the Association of Critical Shareholders and also the Coordination against Bayer Dangers. My name is Christoph Then.
I work and would like to speak on genetic engineering in the environment, and I have some introductory comments first. As you know, the Bayer Group, for many years now, has worked on taking to deregulating plants from new technologies. These genetically modified plants do not need to be assessed for risks in the European Union, and as a result, the group focuses on short-term profits, and some of the negative consequences might be passed on to the following generations due to the lack of risk assessments. In order to achieve this goal, experts are advised to deal more cautiously with genetically modified plants and have been discredited as a result. The group is not able to enter into a dialogue, and this, and this is why we see that there is a clear conflict here.
At the same time, Bayer is expanding its portfolio with seed and has conventionally propagated seeds. At this point, I would like to talk about the transgenic plants, and this is something that we can see in many regions have led to more pesticides and to acceleration of resistance when it comes to weeds and insects, as well as damage to humans working in the agricultural areas. When it comes to the environment, we can note that we are especially concerned here about the fact that in many cases, the transgenic, the transgenes are formed and expanded here. In Europe, these are basically not the case, but in Spain, this may be spread.
This is the mutagenic maize in Spain, and this is a particular publication in Spain, and we see the transgenic maize can then be crossed, and then they can form a type of plant from the original one. That's why the transgenic was then transferred to the wild plants, and the hybrids then show that they have higher growth and earlier blooming, and this means that the chances for spread of invasive species can increase. This is something that was carried out by a research group in Spain. If we talk about this in Spain, if this is stopped, then we see that there may be populations with transgenic wild plants, and this might have an increased tendency towards spreading, and Bayer, therefore, should conclude these activities immediately.
My question is: what sales do you expect at Bayer for genetic engineering in the next 10-20 years if their cultivation is regulated in the European Union, as proposed by the European Commission right now? What different traits could also occur on the market, and what plant species would be affected? How many patents does Bayer have on this type of plants? How many have been applied for, that is. Does Bayer plan, in the next 10-20 years, to release and market genetically modified microorganisms for this purpose? Or does Bayer also plan to use RNA sprays commercially or other biologicals in agriculture, and at what point in time? And for how long does Bayer plan to have the most of the Monsanto in the European Union?
Now, does Bayer know the current results on crossings between different types of maize in Spain? And finally, if you are aware of these results, since when have you been aware of these results, these crossings? And finally, I would like to call on the board of Bayer to stop these crops, and now this is MON 810 in the EU, before it leads to a permanent problem for the environment and the agriculture. The next speaker will be Isabelle Georges, and I'd like to ask Mr. Sigurd Lenzen to be ready to take the floor after. Ms. Georges, you have the floor.
My name is Isabelle Georges from the Coalition Secrets Toxiques, and I'm speaking as a representative. For many years, especially since the takeover of Monsanto, Bayer is selling pesticides worldwide. These products contain substances which have been identified. Glyphosate, for example, which in 2022 has once again been approved by the European Union. But also, when they're substitute products like Beloukha or Asset. These substances are sold in small containers in a pure version, but they're also combined with other substances, which increases the toxicity of the product itself. Several studies have proven that these products contain toxic substances like aromatic carbohydrates and others. The ingredients of those products would be considered irresponsible for use in agriculture, for example. They can have reproductive negative impacts. Since 2020, about $60 billion had to be paid for damages to hundred thousands of victims of these products.
At least this amount of money had to be made available. If the pesticides commercialized by Bayer would be assessed in a European framework by taking into consideration the long-term impact of the product that's been commercialized, they would not obtain approval for the European market. Only when billions of euros are paid and intensive lobby work is done... This can be reached, and this is how Bayer manages to continue to keep its products in the market. Our question: would it not be more intelligent to use these billions of euros in order to help humanity and accompany humanity towards a better way in agriculture, which complies with all required aspects and leads humanity to a genuine agrochemical situation? Bayer risks have to be talked about, and I do suggest that the shareholders vote against the ratification of acts of the board.
Thank you very much, Ms. Georges. I've got two remaining names on the speakers list, Mr. Ivo Krieg and Dr. Sigurd Lenzen. Mr. Krieg, you have the floor. Mr. Krieg is not there any longer. Mr. Lenzen, are you there? Do you still want to take the floor? This doesn't seem to be the case either. Okay, I will close the speakers list, and we will now proceed to the answers. I think it's up to me to start. Yes, Mr. Gaebler, you wanted to know about the skills and qualifications of Mr. Baier and where they come from, because he's been proposed to be reelected into the Supervisory Board.
The CV of Mr. Baier is included in the convocation to the ASM, and this shows that Mr. Baier disposes of comprehensive professional experience in managing positions of big companies, among them Continental AG, TUI AG, Hapag-Lloyd AG. These do qualify Mr.
Bayer, without any doubt, for the reelection of the supervisory board. So it doesn't really matter whether Mr. Baier's got an academic background or not. Mr. Giebel, you also wanted to know where Mr. Baier's qualifications for the chair of the audit committee come from. Let me refer once again to Mr. Baier's CV. This CV has been published together with the convocation to the ASM. Aside from management position, Mr. Baier has got a great number of roles and functions in the area of controlling, and from 2010 on, he had been CFO of TUI AG. And in this role, he was able to gather comprehensive experience in the areas of accounting, auditing, and risk managements, and all these are part and parcel of the core qualifications of a chairman of the audit committee.
Mr. Giebel, you were also asking about severance pays, which were granted to Mr. Baumann in addition to his compensation. In accordance with the contractual regulations of Werner Baumann, the remainder of his office was remunerated, and over and above, no other severance payment was paid to Mr. Baumann. The elements remunerated include fixed remuneration, a current remuneration, which is compensated to its full. In addition, Mr. Baumann receives a company, a car budget, and a pro rata payment of the short-term variable compensation for 2023 and 2024. The pending long-term incentive tranches are not subject to an accelerated vesting or premature payout. They will only be paid out if the originally agreed performance criteria are complied with the end of the performance period that has been stipulated upfront. Mr. Giebel, you were also asking for the company pension or the pension provisions for Mr. Baumann.
When Mr. Baumann took over the position of a CEO, he agreed to a new definition of the company pension. At this point in time, he had received a so-called end compensation commitment, which guarantees up to 60% of his last fixed compensation. In the framework of the switch of the contract, his pension commitment has been switched to a contribution-oriented pension system. As a matter of fact, for the purpose of the company pension, which is composed of direct commitment and a pension fund commitment, Mr. Baumann is treated as if he was employed until the thirtieth of April, 2024. For the time period first May 2024 until the thirty-first of December, 2027, Mr. Baumann has the possibility to exercise an option on a one-off payment, instead receiving regular pension payments concerning the direct commitment, commitment part of the company pension system.
We cannot indicate the net cash value because the planned assets cannot be assigned to individual employees. The total scope of the commitment vis-à-vis Mr. Baumann amounted to EUR 24.4 million as at 31 December last year. Mr. Giebel, you were also asking for the five biggest positions of in-kind income of Mrs. Prinz. They include 25,000 EUR for moving costs, then health and unemployment and long-term care insurance, 1,300 EUR. Then driver and company car, in-kind assignment of 1,300 EUR, then 2,600 EUR for the travel between the residence and the workplace, and then the payout of a budget for the company car at last. Mr. Giebel, you were also asking if our plan is to call the shareholders. We, that take the floor to use the first names.
Well, let me explain the following: within the management board, we have a relationship of friendship, and this is expressed by the fact that we are calling ourselves by our first names, and this is something we want to keep also in all official meetings, like today's ASM. And I'm sure that most of the listeners and also the shareholders do appreciate this spirit. The names of members of the management board and supervisory boards are available, all documents which relate to the ASM. So there should not be any reason for confusion. So I can assure you that our intention is to make sure that our shareholders who request the floor in this or future ASM, to call them by their first and family names. Mr. Gaebler, you were asking for the 10 biggest in-kind payments to Bill Anderson.
There is a total of nine positions. First of all, language training for Mr. Anderson's wife in the amount of EUR 1,200, then the employer contribution for the health and long-term care insurance amounting to EUR 4,200. Then a monetary benefit for the use of a company car amounting to EUR 5,100. Then driver for the company car, EUR 5,400, then the monetary benefit for the company car, according to the distance between residence and workplace, EUR 8,200. Removal forfeit amounting to EUR 9,200. The payout of the passenger car budget of EUR 14,500. The reimbursement of removal costs of EUR 138,000.
Furthermore, Bill Anderson was granted a compensatory payment for part of the compensation he missed out on the previous employer, to the tune of EUR 3.8 million. This is common use. Furthermore, you are asking how we grant the in-kind payments and how we compare them. Granting those, in-kind payments and ancillary benefits is usual for management positions. Mr. Gebel, you were asking for the law firm working in the back office today. The external lawyers in the back office are Dr. Ralph Wollburg and Dr. Arne Kissling. Both are from the law firm Linklaters LLP. Herr Gebler, you put the motion to give the floor to Mr. Gebel once again, and this is a decision that falls into the remit of the chair of the ASM.
In view of the closure of the speakers list and the equal treatment of shareholders, I do not intend to give Mr. Gebel the floor again. Mr. Gebel, like the other shareholders, had the opportunity to go beyond the originally granted speaking time and to close the statement they wanted to present. Mr. Gebel, you were asking why we were in such a hurry with the ASM and why the ASM was not allowed to last as long as Deutsche Bank's AGMs. We do conduct an ASM in a way that gives all our shareholders the opportunity to express themselves with regard to all items on the agenda, but we also must make sure that the ASM finishes in an adequate time limit.
I already pointed out that an ordinary AGM should close within 4-6 hours, according to the German Corporate Governance Codex, and ours is already lasting more than 6 hours. To conclude, a correction on the question of pension, pension provisions to Mr. Baumann. The total commitment as at 31st of December 2023 amounted to EUR 21.4 million, and not EUR 24.1 billion, which I mentioned beforehand, so I do apologize for that. I'd like to hand over now to Wolfgang Nickl.
Thank you. I'll begin with Mr. Pehrke. You asked what measures we plan to take with regard to litigation regarding glyphosate in the United States. As we said a number of times already, we are now looking into various different measures. Mr. Pehrke, you asked about the reaction of the Board of Management to some of the risks at the ASM in 2018, and the extent of these litigations was due to the positive regulatory review, was something that we did not expect, but now we have very good reasons for acquiring Monsanto, and this still apply today. Mr. Pehrke, you also asked about donations made by the Bayer Political Action Committee in the United States. The figures you mentioned for 2024 are basically correct. The current status for the current fiscal year can be found on the website of the Federal Election Commission.
For the fiscal year 2024 as a whole, the figures will be published as we have done in the past. This will be found in our sustainability report. Mr. Pehrke, you also asked about our expenditures for political interests with respect to glyphosate in the United States, and you also asked about donations made by Bayer in this respect. Overall costs for political interests at a federal level in the United States amounted, according to the transparency register in the US contract, to $7.35 million in fiscal 2023. The costs for individual campaigns are not listed separately. The topic you mentioned in fiscal 2023 was one of the major focal points in our political interests.
In accordance with the conduct code for responsible lobbying and a regulation in the group, Bayer, as a company, does not make any political corporate donations, so donations to political parties, politicians, or candidates for a political office. This applies to them as well. Mr. Gaebler, you asked about the display in the background. What does it say to us, and why isn't it in German? We are an international company, and we are represented around the world. We are proud of our mission: Health for All, Hunger for None. It is English, but it is relevant worldwide, here in Germany as well. Mr. Schliemann, you asked about risk management in the field of environmental protection, environmental rights, and human rights in the value chain downstream.
When determining disadvantages with regard to our business activity on the environment and on human rights is something that is carried out according to a risk analysis, and this is based on UN principles. Risk analysis includes the entire value-added chain, as well as the downstream areas. Whenever we recognize a risk, we address these in a targeted measure with comprehensive product stewardship, for example, instructions on the products as well as training. In 2023, we reached a total of almost 5.3 million farmers with our training. This includes about 4 million small farmers, and we also focus on training in countries where certification for farmers is not required for dealing with pesticides or plant protection means. In Latin America alone, we were able to train 300,000 farmers last year alone. Mr.
Schliemann, you asked about Bayer's market shares in products containing glyphosate in the glyphosate market as a whole in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina. In these countries, Bayer has an average market share of just over a third. Ms. Miguens, you asked about our human rights policy and what measures Bayer takes in addition to that, to avoid negative impacts on the environment and human health. The responsibility for our products is the center of our activity. Before plant protection means and technologies are launched, we have to prove that when used correctly and in accordance with a product label, and to make sure that they are not damaging to humans, and that they do not result in any unacceptable risks to the environment. Plant protection means require authorization and approval, which are dictated by international and national laws.
We test the products accordingly, in accordance with the requirements, and we carry out comprehensive risk assessments. When it comes to the use of our plant protection means, we have instructions that are printed on the products. This is an instruction which the farmers must follow when they make use of our products. In training sessions, we teach the farmers, seed preparers, salespeople, et cetera, how they can use our products safely and effectively. In 2023, we trained nearly 5.3 million farmers, including nearly 4 million small farmers. Mr. Georgas, you asked what sense our political interest groups make. Legislation and politics are typical for the underlying conditions in our business. As a global company, we have responsibility in society as a whole to make our skills and knowledges available as early as possible and to support political decision-making processes with our experts.
This is very legitimate for us. It's a good possibility for us to achieve good, balanced legislation. Democracy is dependent on active partnership and exchange between all those involved, and we take this mission very seriously. Mr. Giebel, you asked about the absolute cost for the last in-person and virtual ASMs, as well as the cost for a hybrid ASM. The cost for the last in-person ASM in 2019 was about EUR 3.5 million, and the cost for the last virtual ASM was about EUR 2.2 million. The cost for a hybrid, a potentially hybrid ASM, cannot be given precisely, but this would be higher than a pure in-person event. You also asked about the average cost per shareholder. At last year's virtual ASM, the cost per shareholder amounted to about EUR 1,300.
At the last in-person ASM in 2019, the cost per shareholder came to about EUR 1,100. Mr. Giebel, you asked in addition about the lowest and highest number of shareholders present at the last in-person and virtual shareholder meetings. At the last in-person shareholders meeting, when we announced the results, we only had a low double-digit number of shareholders. The peak number was about 3,300 shareholders who were there on the spot, and at the last year's virtual ASM, the peak figure was about 2,000 shareholders who had logged in. The lowest figure was about 750. Mr. Thein, you asked how many patents Bayer has on gene-editing plants. How many have been applied for? Up until now, Bayer has applied for about 40 inventions in this field. And then, Mr.
Thein, you also asked if in the next 10-20 years Bayer plans to use RNA sprays commercially or any other biologicals in agriculture, and if yes, for what purpose? Bayer offers a broad range of innovative chemical and biological plant protection means and digital solutions, which farmers can use around the world in their relevant work. Biologicals can help us to reduce the use of chemical plant protection means, and the residues can be reduced and residue management and resistance management can also be implemented. We also support this with biological products. This gives us a holistic application system. At present, more than 50 assets are being looked into for new cooperation agreements or in-licensing. And that brings me to handing back over to Stefan, I believe. Thank you very much, Mr. Stelzmann. You asked about the different cause for Duogynon.
As we said already, this we still believe we can still rule out Duogynon as the cause for embryonal deformities and any payments. Ms. Pücker asked about this as well, and the document referred to was reviewed by our experts. They came to the following result: there are no new findings in this area. Now I'd like to hand over to Rodrigo Santos.
Thank you, Stefan. Mrs. Mamani, you asked whether Bayer has a position on deforestation. Bayer has had a position on deforestation and forest damage since 2019. This is publicly available on our website in German and English as well. Mr. Then, you asked about the future commercialization of genetically modified microorganisms. Yes, we plan to commercialize them in the next 10-20 years. An important example is the development of fertilizer alternatives. We have invested in several companies that work on genetically modified soil bacteria. These bacteria live from the roots of the plants, and they make nitrogen from the air available to the plant as fertilizer. This could save a considerable amount of artificial fertilizer, a huge benefit for the environment. With that, I'll pass back to Mr. Norbert. Ja, Herr Gäbler, Sie wollten wissen, warum am Anfang der Hauptversammlung-
Mr. Gäbler, you wanted to know whether in the beginning of the ASM we always have the same speakers. Well, it's common practice among the big corporations. At the beginning of the general discussion, the representatives of the large funds and shareholders associations have their voice, and normally, their questions cover a whole lot of topics which are relevant to all shareholders. But I might add that we will internally discuss your idea and your proposal.
Ja, damit darf ich noch einmal an Wolfgang Nickl-
I would like to hand over again to Wolfgang Nickl.
Ja, ich habe noch eine Frage von Herrn Schliemann.
There is a question by Mr. Schliemann. You were asking for potential return into the soy seed business line in Argentina. On thirtieth July 2021, Bayer announced the withdrawal from soy seed and biotechnology or bioengineering business in Argentina. This was due to the fact that there was no need to be there. We do not plan at the moment to return to this market, but we do make a regular evaluation of market developments.
Vielen Dank, Wolfgang.
Thank you very much, Wolfgang.
Weitere Wortmeldungen liegen nicht vor.
There are no further requests for the floor. Is that correct? I'm looking around.
Die Rednerliste... ist richtig?
Correct?
... Ah, okay. Yeah, okay. We'll have a short break, because we need some more time in order to provide answers to the remaining questions. So we'll have a short break.
...
Ladies and gentlemen, let us continue the ASM. There are four questions that still need to be answered, and Rodrigo Santos will take over.
Thank you very much. So the first question, Mr. Tüngler, you asked if we were about the results of trials with GMOs corn in Tel- and Taul Sint in Spain, and yes, we are aware of those results. Also, Mr. Tüngler, you wanted to know more about Taul Sint tests. As already said, we are aware of those tests, and we are cooperating with the Spanish authorities, but this has nothing to do with GMOs. Mr. Tüngler, you asked about sales from new genetic engineering in Europe based on the changes proposed by the EU Commission. Bayer evaluates changing market developments and continuously invest in new technologies. It's not possible at this time to estimate precise sales forecast for, or the number of possible trades, also because the legislative process has not yet been completed.
And Mr. Thein, you asked how long Bayer will continue to sell MON 810 in corn in Europe. MON 810 is an old seed trait. It's currently still sold in small quantities in Spain. We have no further information on how long the product will continue to be sold for the farmers. With that, I will return to you, Mr. Norbert.
Thank you, Rodrigo. Ladies and gentlemen, the speakers' list has been closed, and thus I'm able to close the discussion. Supervisory Board and Management Board have answered your questions, and we believe that all the questions raised were answered. I thank the speakers for their contributions. I thank the Management Board for answering the questions, and with that, I close the discussion. Before we proceed to the vote, I would like to point out once again that the attendance list of the ASM has been updated on a regular basis and has made available on the shareholders' portal for inspection by the shareholders and their representatives. Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon close the vote. The proxy, the company's proxy, will vote according to instructions given and release the respective votes submitted and entered in the system.
All the postal votes we have received in due time will be taken into consideration in the determination of the voting result. I hereby announce that I will briefly interrupt the ASM soon. As soon as the ASM will be continued, all the votes cast, the proxies, the instructions, and changes will no longer be possible on the shareholders portal. Ladies and gentlemen, the proposed resolutions by the management board and supervisory board have been announced together with the convocation to the ASM on the eleventh of March in the Federal Gazette. They are also included in the invitation to today's ASM on the website of the company. I therefore refrain from reading out the resolutions. Prior to and during today's ASM, you were able to present countermotions and present proposals.
As the chair of the ASM, I would like to vote, first of all, on the proposals of the boards. Should these proposals not receive the required majority, I will treat the countermotions or counter proposals. Otherwise, with the exception or the majority vote on the board proposals, we will not have to refer to countermotions anymore. In view of the ratification of acts of Management Board and Supervisory Board, the respective members were informed that they cannot exercise the voting right for their own shares or for external shareholders, and this holds true for persons as well, who represent the members whose acts have to be ratified. Ladies and gentlemen, it's 5:10 P.M., and I hereby announce the closing of the voting process.
Postal votes and proxies and instructions given to the company's proxies and any relevant changes or revocations are no longer possible after the break. The transmission of the ASM will be briefly interrupted, and we will continue at 5:10 P.M. Short break now.
We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too.
At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on... We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none.
A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life.
This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I said, it's now 5:10 P.M. We're going to continue. It is no longer possible to vote by absentee ballot, nor can you give instructions or authorizations, nor can you change or cancel your votes. The team has taken that into account, and I'd like to ask the notary public to take note of that as well. The representatives have also released their votes in the system in accordance with the instructions that they received, and we will now begin by counting the votes. We are using modern technology, but nonetheless, it will take some time, and so that is why I would like to interrupt the annual shareholders meeting and ask for your patience, please. Our notary public will be monitoring the counting of the votes. We're going to take a quick break again. Thank you.
We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too.
At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none.
A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none.... A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life.
This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home.
But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us.
Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none.
A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life.
This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home.
But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us. Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer. We're all born with it, that desire for better. It could be a better morning coffee, a better job, car, or home. But sometimes it's not just about us, it's about our loved ones, too. At Bayer, it's this desire for better that drives us.
Through the power of science, we strive for a world where health is for all and hunger is for none. A world where we can win the fight against life-threatening diseases, where we can take control of our everyday health, and where feeding the planet looks after the planet, giving everyone a chance for a better life. This is a world we'd be proud to pass on. Bayer.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have received the voting results, and I will therefore continue the ASM and announce the resolutions. The number of the valid votes and their share in the registered common stock, just like the number of the yes and no votes and abstentions, will be shown separately for each item on the agenda. The detailed voting results will also be published on the website of the company. Let me point out that shortly after establishing the voting results, the ASM will be closed, and this puts an end to the option to oppose any resolutions of the ASM on the shareholders portal. Let me come to item one: resolution on the appropriation of profits. I announce that the result was, with 551,991,108 shares for which valid votes were cast.
This corresponds to 56.17% of the registered capital, 547,897,153 votes in favor. This is 99.29%, and 3,893,951 no votes, this is 0.71%. 1,034,012 abstentions were also presented. The ASM has thus adopted the resolution on item one as published in the Federal Gazette on 11 March 2024, and has thus presented the required majority. This brings me to item one: ratification of acts of the member of the management board. With 580,551,847 shares, valid voices, votes were cast. This corresponds to 52.78% of the registered capital.
475,449,067 yes votes, this is 91.69%, and 43,102,780 no votes, this is 8.31%. In addition, 34,106,751 abstentions. Thus, on item two on the agenda, the proposed resolution from Management Board and Supervisory Board has adopted the proposed, resolution with the required majority. I thank you very much for the trust, and I congratulate Bill Anderson and the whole Management Board to this. This brings me to item three on the agenda: ratification of acts of the members of the Supervisory Board.
I announce as follows: with 580,768,741 shares for which valid votes were cast, this corresponds to 52.80% of the registered capital. 487,053,963 yes votes, this is 93.89%, and 31,740,778 no votes, this is 6.11%. In addition, we had 34,053,134 abstentions. Therefore, the ASM has adopted the resolution by management board and supervisory, as published in the Federal Gazette on eleventh March 2024, with the required majority. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to thank you for the trust you place in us. This brings me to item four, elections to the supervisory board.
This is the election of Horst Baier. I do establish as follows: for the election of Horst Baier, we had 551,431,033 shares for which valid votes were cast. This corresponds to 56.13% of the registered capital. 506,141,038 yes votes, this is 91.79%, and 45,289,995 no votes, this is 8.21%. In addition, we received 1,392,809 abstentions. The ASM has therefore adopted the resolution by the supervisory board concerning the election of Horst Baier with the required majority.
Election of Ertharin Cousin, I establish as follows: the vote concerning the election of Ertharin Cousin, with 550,168,754 shares, valid votes were cast. This is 56% of the registered capital. 530,277,108 yes votes. This is 96.38%, and 90,909,571 no votes. This is 3.62%. In addition, we had 2,603,635 abstentions. The ASM has thus adopted the resolution as published on the eleventh of March in the Federal Gazette with the required majority.
Election of Lori Schechter, I do establish as follows: the vote on the election of Lori Schechter is based on 550,192,261 shares for which valid votes were cast. This corresponds to 56% of the registered capital. 547,226,795 yes votes. This is 99.46%, and 2,965,466 no votes. This is 0.54%. In addition, we had 2,628,555 abstentions. The ASM has thus adopted the resolution by the supervisory board concerning the election of Lori Schechter, as published in the Federal Gazette with the required majority.
On the election of Dr. Nancy Simonian called, Dr. Nancy Simonian. I establish as follows: for the election of Dr. Nancy Simonian, we had 550,216,640 shares for which valid votes were cast. This corresponds to 56.01% of the registered capital. 546,170,865 yes votes. This is 99.26%, and 4,098,275 no votes. This is 0.74%. In addition, we had 2,604,130 abstentions. The ASM has thus adopted the proposed resolution by the supervisory board concerning the election of Dr. Nancy Simonian, as published in the Federal Gazette, and has done so with the required majority.
On the election of Jeffrey Ubben, I do establish as follows: the voting result is based on 550,168,549 shares, for which valid votes were cast. This corresponds to 56% of the registered capital. 540,956,807 yes votes. This is 98.33%, and 9,211,742 no votes. This is 1.67%. 2,651,413 abstentions. The ASM has adopted the-
... the resolution concerning the election of Jeffrey Ubben, as published in the Federal Gazette, and has done so with the required majority. Dear colleagues, congratulations. We are looking forward to the cooperation with you in the Supervisory Board. That brings me to agenda item number five: approval of the compensation system for the Board of Management. We had a total of 485,919,447 shares. This is the equivalent of 49.46% of the registered stock. We have 452,905,386 votes in favor, which is 93.21%, and there were 33,014,061 votes against. This is 6.779%.
We also had a total of 66,899,627 abstentions. So the annual shareholders meeting has adopted agenda item number 5, as published in the Federal Gazette on the eleventh of March. That brings me to agenda number 6, the resolution on the approval of the compensation report.
I would note and announce that we had a total of 486,036,866 shares for which we had valid votes, and we have a to—that's a total of 49.47% of the registered stock, and this is 361,668,937 votes in favor, which is 74.41%, and 124,367,929 votes against. This is 25.59%. We also had a total of 66,789,144 abstentions. The annual shareholders meeting has adopted agenda item six, as published in the Federal Gazette on the 11th of March, with the required majority.
That brings me to agenda item number 7: one authorization to acquire and use own shares with a potential disapplication of subscription and other tender rights. I note and announce that we had a total of 551,609,698 shares for which we had valid votes, and we had a total of 56.16% of the registered stock. 532,932,089 votes in favor, which is 96.6%, and there were 18,758,609 votes against, which is 3.40%. We also received a total of 1,133,741 abstentions.
The annual shareholders' meeting has adopted agenda item 7.1 from the Board of Management and Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on the eleventh of March, 2024, with the required majority. That brings me to agenda item 7.2: authorization to acquire own shares with the use of derivatives. We had a total of 551,565,922 shares for which valid votes were cast. This is 56.14% of the registered stock. We had 532,663,328 votes in favor, which is 96.57%, and there were 18,902,594 votes against, which is 3.43%.
We also received 1,257,285 abstentions. The annual shareholders meeting has adopted agenda item 7.2, the resolution from the Board of Management and Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on the eleventh of March, 2024, with the required majority. That brings me to agenda item eight, resolution on the approval of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement between the company and Bayer CropScience AG. I note that we had a total of 551,529,156 shares for which valid votes were cast, and this amounts to 56.14% of the registered shares.
We have 550,657,576 votes in favor, or 99.84%, and we had 871,580 votes against, or 0.16%. We also received 1,297,454 abstentions. The annual shareholders' meeting has adopted agenda item eight, which is the proposal from the Board of Management and Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on the eleventh of March, 2024, with the required majority. That brings me to agenda item nine, election of the auditor for the annual financial statements and of the auditor for the review of the half year and interim financial reports, if applicable.
We have a total of 551,320,312 shares for which valid votes were cast, and this is 56.12% of the registered shares. And this is 549,855,017 votes in favor, or 99.73%, and 1,465,295 votes against, which is 0.27%. We also received 1,505,553 abstentions. The annual shareholders meeting has adopted agenda item 9, the proposal from the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on the eleventh of March, 2024, with the required majority. Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations to everyone at Deloitte for your election.
I believe that we have taken care of all of the countermotions as a result of these voting results. Ladies and gentlemen, that means that we have come to the end of today's agenda. I would like to thank you on behalf of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board for your participation in today's virtual ASM. I would also like to thank everyone who was responsible for answering your questions, for preparing the answers, and for everyone who was involved in preparing and carrying out today's ASM. The next regular ASM is to take place on the 25th of April 2025. Thank you once again for participating and for your interest in Bayer. At this point, I would like to bid you farewell. I'd like to wish you all the very best, above all, the best of health, and let's hope for a future filled with peace.
I wish you all a lovely evening and a lovely weekend. That concludes our ASM at 5:50 P.M.