Bayer, one of the world's biggest chemical and pharmaceutical companies, recently launched its "Seeding for Green" project to deepen its sustainable development strategy and foster a young generation of green activists in China.

The initiatives include awarding the Bayer Young Environment Envoys and the Bayer Environmental Award for Media that selected 20 young envoys and 10 young journalists for commendation by the Shanghai Environmental Protection Publicity and Education Center, the China Environmental Journalists Association and Bayer.

Four young Chinese envoys and two journalists, along with 46 other winners from 18 countries and regions around the world traveled to Bayer's headquarters in Germany on a junket to learn more about "energy conservation, emission reduction and low-carbon life".

The youths also went to the North Rhine-Westphalia State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection and to AVEA, a waste processing and disposal facility in Leverkusen.

Michael Koenig, president of Bayer Group Greater China, said that Bayer has long seen social, ecological and business objectives as important strategic goals.

In China, Bayer has for years joined with partners in various fields to cope with changing environmental problems and challenges, he said.

"Environmental education for the young is one of our strategic tasks, which is also the driving force for the Seeding for Green project in China," said Koenig.

Selected envoys have in turn responded with a dedication to environmental protection for their respective nations.

"We really hope to make efforts with enterprises and the people in our society to fully implement environmental protection," said a Chinese winner in this year's Seeding for Green program.

The Young Environmental Envoy Program, launched in Asia in 1998, is one of the key cooperative efforts between Bayer and the UN Environment Program.

To date, some 9,500 young people have applied for a place on the program and about 450 have been invited to visit Germany.

The program also sponsors the "International Children's Painting Competition" and "Children's Book on Global Warming", both designed to instill an awareness of environmental protection in children.

The wide-ranging effort also includes a "Green Generation: Environmental Education Center" and the "China Green Camp for University Students".