ESG
What ESG means at BAT
‘Creating shared value for our stakeholders isn’t just the right thing to do, it makes sound business sense and is central to our strategy to deliver A Better Tomorrow.’
Jack Bowles, Chief Executive
Our ESG agenda creates shared value for our shareholders and broader stakeholders including our consumers, society and employees. Our corporate purpose puts ESG front and centre, with a principal focus on reducing the health impact of our global business in order to build A Better Tomorrow™.
Along with our principal focus, we retain a strong emphasis on other ESG priorities – including addressing climate change and excellence in environmental management. At the same time, we remain committed to delivering a positive social impact and ensuring robust corporate governance across the Group.
Outlined below are the priority areas identified in 2019 and which form the core of our Sustainability Agenda:
Reducing the HEALTH impact of our business
-
Consumer choice -
World-class science -
Standards and regulation
Excellence in ENVIRONMENTAL management
- Climate change
- Water
- Waste
- Biodiversity and afforestation
Robust corporate GOVERNANCE
- Business ethics
- Responsible marketing
- Regulation and policy engagement
Creating shared value for
-
Consumers -
Society -
Employees -
Shareholders
We have set stretching targets against these priorities:

Harm reduction
- £5 bn by 2025 in New Categories revenues
- 50m by 2030 consumers of our non-combustible products

Climate change
- Net Zero achieve carbon neutral operations (Scope 1 and 2 CO2e emissions) by 2030 and net zero emissions across our value chain by 2050
- 30% by 2025 of total energy from renewable sources
- 100% by 2030 of electricity sourced for operations sites that is renewable

Waste
- 100% by 2025 of operations sites to achieve zero waste to landfill

Water
- -35% by 2025 of total amount of water withdrawn (vs 2017 baseline)

Biodiversity & afforestation
- Net Zero Deforestation by 2025 aiming for net zero deforestation of managed forests in our supply chain and net positive impact on forests in our tobacco supply chain

Business ethics
- 100% aiming for full adherence to our Standards of Business Conduct (SoBC)

Responsible marketing
- 100% aiming for full adherence to our Youth Access Prevention (YAP) Guidelines
Ultimately, ESG at BAT means building A Better Tomorrow™ not just for us, but for all our stakeholders.
Our ESG Report 2021 provides detailed information about our policies, management approach, performance and targets for all our environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities.
Our online Combined Performance and ESG summary show how this creates shared value for our stakeholders to build our purpose for A Better Tomorrow™.
For more information on what ESG means at BAT, please see the attached investor presentation.