We have built a strong reputation for CSR and sustainability and have been seen by some as leaders in our industry
uk bat.com - Our approach to sustainability
In 2007, we developed our sustainability agenda, which focuses on five pillars: harm reduction, marketplace, environment, supply chain and people and culture. It aims to build value for our shareholders and other stakeholders by addressing our social, environmental and economic impacts.
This means generating returns for our shareholders by doing the right thing by our stakeholders and the environment. This concept of sustainable value underpins all of our sustainability activities. By taking action to address our impacts today, we help our business to thrive in the future.
Our sustainability agenda is an integral part of delivering our Group strategy and comprises five goals. We will:
- Strive to bring commercially viable, consumer acceptable reduced-risk products to market;
- Take a lead in upholding high standards of corporate conduct within our marketplace;
- Actively address the impacts of our business on the natural environment;
- Work for positive social, environmental and economic impacts in our supply chain; and
- Work to ensure we have the right people and culture to meet our goals.
Over the years we have built a strong reputation for CSR and sustainability and have been seen by some as leaders in our industry: from being the first tobacco company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, continuing our inclusion to date; to receiving a number of reporting awards; to achieving platinum status in the UK Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index.
However, we also recognise that we do not have all the answers and that sustainability is a long-term commitment for which we need to continually evolve our approach.
Our approach to reporting
Our 2010 Sustainability Report 
is our tenth publication - a particularly important milestone for us. We believe this long history of reporting demonstrates a serious commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
In 2001, we were the first tobacco company to begin social reporting and, from the outset, we applied a rigorous approach to our reporting processes at both Group and local level. This included following the AA1000 Standard and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines; third party assurance of all our Reports; and conducting independently facilitated stakeholder dialogue sessions. You can read more about our reporting methodology in our 2010 Sustainability Report.
This approach has allowed us to meet greater demands for corporate transparency and, over the past 10 years, has been instrumental in changing the way we think about our business. Dialogue has helped us to take stakeholder views into account, enabling us to make better business decisions and independent assurance has been essential in supporting our commitment to continuous improvement.
In 2007, in response to an external shift in best practice standards, we began to make the transition from social to sustainability reporting. This meant evolving our approach from very comprehensive and detailed Social Reports, to developing our sustainability agenda to focus on the most material issues for stakeholders and our business.
This shift in reporting has allowed us to produce shorter, more focused Sustainability Reports, while still maintaining transparency by covering other issues elsewhere on this website. With more meaningful targets, performance measures and a forward-looking view, we believe this approach helps to clearly demonstrate progress to stakeholders, as well as driving progress internally.
In 2009, we made the decision to produce one Sustainability Report for the Group, including balanced scorecards and case studies from businesses in some of our largest markets. This approach, together with our communications on this website, aims to provide comprehensive coverage of the Group’s sustainability efforts globally.
Not producing local reports has helped free up time and resources for our companies to concentrate on the implementation of sustainability initiatives, with stakeholder dialogue remaining central to the approach. Our companies have continued to engage with their stakeholders to help shape their local sustainability plans and initiatives.
In our Reporting download centre, you can access previous Social and Sustainability Reports, as well as our companies most recent Stakeholder Reports. There is also a list of all our companies’ previous reports, many of which can be viewed online or downloaded as PDF files.
Our approach to dialogue
Our companies have been conducting independently assured and facilitated stakeholder dialogue since 2001 and our approach is based on the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (AA1000SES). You can find details of our approach to dialogue in our 2010 Sustainability Report .
For a summary of dialogues our companies carried out in 2009 and 2010, see our stakeholder dialogue around the Group:
Download stakeholder dialogue around the Group (48 kb)
See our past International Issues Map for issues raised in dialogue and find out what we have learned from dialogue so far.
External links
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Sustainability Report 2010
Our Sustainability Report details our approach to building sustainable value – generating returns for our shareholders by doing the right thing by our stakeholders and the environment.