British American Tobacco - BAT in Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 20th consecutive year - and only tobacco company in World Index

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News Release

15 November 2021

BAT in Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 20th consecutive year - and only tobacco company in World Index

  • BAT recognised as a sustainability leader for 20th consecutive year and the only tobacco company to be included in the prestigious DJSI World Index
  • BAT is the highest scoring tobacco company in the DJSI - leading the industry in 11 out of 24 categories 1
  • BAT had an overall score of 86% – 43 percentage points higher than the industry average of 43% 1
  • BAT is building A Better Tomorrow™ with sustainability at the core of its business

BAT has been named in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for the 20th consecutive year and, once again, is the only tobacco company to be included in the prestigious DJSI World Index. The World Index represents the top 10% of more than 10,000 companies assessed.

BAT is the highest scoring tobacco company in 2021, with industry leading scores in 11 of the 24 categories assessed, while achieving a top score of 100% in 6 categories 1 .

Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Marketing Officer at BAT, said:
“It is an honour to have been recognised by the DJSI every year for the last 20 years and once again be ranked within the DJSI World Index.

“Building A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health impact of our business is core to BAT’s future sustainability. This is why we are accelerating our transformation away from combustible cigarettes and investing to provide our consumers with enjoyable, less risky *† products.

“As we build brands of the future and become a multi-category consumer goods company, our goals are clear: £5bn in revenues from our New Categories products by 2025 and 50m consumers of our non-combustible products by 2030.

“Sustainability has been central to our business and ethos for decades, starting in 2001 when we established our first group-wide environment, health and safety systems, the BAT Biodiversity Partnership and a programme of independently facilitated social dialogue. In March 2022, we will publish our 20th ESG Report.

“We continue to push for new ways to reduce our resource use, preserve the natural environment, improve the lives of growers and communities and uphold robust corporate governance standards.”

Created by S&P Dow Jones Indices, the DJSI represents the gold standard for tracking corporate sustainability. In 2021, more than 10,000 companies were invited to have their sustainability practices assessed against ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria. Only the top 10% are recognised as leaders in corporate sustainability and achieve DJSI World Index inclusion.

BAT was the first tobacco company to be included in the DJSI and it has maintained its inclusion every year for the past 20 years, highlighting its status as a global sustainability leader. BAT is also recognised by MCSI‘s ESG Rating with a BBB rating 2 and Sustainalytics with a 26.8 ESG rating 3 .

This achievement further demonstrates BAT's continued commitment to its purpose, to build A Better Tomorrow™ by reducing the health impact of its business.

BAT recently signed up to the UN-backed Race to Zero global campaign and committed to set science-based targets aiming for net zero value chain emissions by 2050 .

Manjit Jus, Global Head of ESG Research, S&P Global said:
"We congratulate BAT for being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. A DJSI distinction is a reflection of being a sustainability leader in your industry. The record number of companies participating in the 2021 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment is testament to the growing movement for ESG disclosure and transparency."

  1. Score date: 12 November 2021
  2. An MSCI ESG Rating is designed to measure a company’s resilience to long-term, industry material environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks.
  3. A Sustainalytics score of zero out of 100 represents the lowest ESG risk. BAT’s ESG Risk Rating places the company in the 16th percentile of the industry group which we are assessed in.

* Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive.
† Our products as sold in the US, including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without FDA clearance.

Enquiries

Media Centre
+44 (0) 20 7845 2888 (24 hours)  | @BATplc

Investor Relations
Victoria Buxton: +44 (0)20 7845 2012
John Harney: +44 (0)20 7845 1263

Forward-looking statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements, including "forward-looking" statements made within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions. These include statements regarding our customer target ambition, New Categories revenue targets and our ESG targets.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors. It is believed that the expectations reflected in this release are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. A review of the reasons why actual results and developments may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within forward-looking statements can be found by referring to the information contained under the headings “Forward-looking statements” and "Group Principal Risks " in the 2020 Annual Report and Form 20-F of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT).

Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this release and BAT undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in BAT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F and Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov and BAT’s Annual Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the British American Tobacco website www.bat.com.

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