BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Syngenta has joined with 50 chief executives and global business leaders to urge World Leaders, Heads of Government and the International Community to deliver an enhanced, ambitious action plan to tackle climate change.

The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, under the auspices of the World Economic Forum, has called for action ahead of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held next month in Poland. Syngenta Chief Executive Erik Fyrwald said, “Climate change requires strong leadership and collective action. We all have a role to play through innovation, commitment and collaboration and we have to find better solutions, faster”.

Syngenta’s commitment to addressing climate change includes:

• Supporting farmers in the adoption sustainable agricultural practices and technologies like minimum tillage and conservation agriculture. In 2017, Syngenta reference farms achieved a 14 percent improvement in greenhouse gas emission efficiency1;
• Setting science-based targets to reduce our carbon footprint;
• Co-chairing the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) 100 project, bringing together 100 leading companies to make a science-based and measurable commitment by 2030 across the three pillars of productivity, resilience and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions;
• As an active participant in the Race to Zero2, enhancing soil health and fertility on at least 2 million hectares of farmland in China by 2023;
• Working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the World Economic Forum, and the Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture, driving policy advocacy and promote CSA approaches throughout entire food value chains.

“Climate change poses severe and distinct threats to food security, rural communities and economies. As a member of the Alliance we firmly believe that business is part of the solution and has a vital role to play in tackling climate change. As one of the world’s leading agricultural companies we are therefore committed to taking a holistic science based approach meeting the challenge. We are investing more than US$1 billion every year in research and development and are working with policy makers, scientists, civil society and the investment community to try and achieve a coherent approach”, said Mr Fyrwald.

Further information

• The Good Growth Plan Progress Report, published by Syngenta (2018):

  https://www.syngenta.com/~/media/Files/S/Syngenta/2018/20180326-progress-report.pdf#page=8

• Syngenta joins Race to Zero:

  https://agr.chemchina.com/nonghuaen/xwymt/hhxw/webinfo/2018/04/1523351351363759.htm

• Syngenta policy position on climate change:

  https://www.syngenta.com/how-we-do-it/corporate-responsibility/climate-change

About Syngenta

Syngenta is a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Through world class science and innovative crop solutions, our 28,000 people in over 90 countries are working to transform how crops are grown. We are committed to rescuing land from degradation, enhancing biodiversity and revitalizing rural communities. To learn more visit www.syngenta.com and www.goodgrowthplan.com. Follow us on Twitter® at www.twitter.com/Syngenta.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by terminology such as ‘expect’, ‘would’, ‘will’, ‘potential’, ‘plans’, ‘prospects’, ‘estimated’, ‘aiming’, ‘on track’ and similar expressions. Such statements may be subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements. For Syngenta, such risks and uncertainties include risks relating to legal proceedings, regulatory approvals, new product development, increasing competition, customer credit risk, general economic and market conditions, compliance and remediation, intellectual property rights, implementation of organizational changes, impairment of intangible assets, consumer perceptions of genetically modified crops and organisms or crop protection chemicals, climatic variations, fluctuations in exchange rates and/or commodity prices, single source supply arrangements, political uncertainty, natural disasters, and breaches of data security or other disruptions of information technology. Syngenta assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changed assumptions or other factors.

1 1,400 farms growing 22 crops in 41 countries – The Good Growth Plan Progress data (2018)

2 A global initiative encouraging companies to work towards zero-carbon and zero-waste, particularly in China