British American Tobacco launches 2016 Corporate Behaviour Report

British American Tobacco’s commitment to operating to the highest standards of corporate conduct is the focus of its latest report, published today.

Corporate conduct is one of three key areas – the other two being harm reduction and sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods – that together comprise British American Tobacco’s Sustainability Agenda, a key strategic pillar for the business’s long-term success. 

This new report demonstrates British American Tobacco’s continued commitment to upholding the highest standards of corporate conduct and transparency wherever it operates, and how the company is working to address challenges in order to grow the business for the shared value of both shareholders and society.

The report covers the work that British American Tobacco is doing in a number of key areas, including:
marketing responsibly; contributing to communities; strengthening our approach to human rights; promoting standards for vapour products; safeguarding our people; collaborating to tackle the illegal tobacco trade; reducing our environmental impacts; and upholding high standards of corporate governance.

Nicandro Durante, Chief Executive of British American Tobacco, comments: “Being in a controversial industry has meant we have long been aware of our responsibilities and the importance of operating to the highest standards of corporate conduct and transparency.

“Our corporate behaviour – how we behave and the standards that we adhere to in how we operate – is one of the three key areas that underpins, and is crucial to, our long-term success, and forms the foundation of our culture and values.

“As this report shows, we’re striving to remain at the forefront of best practice and to build upon our approach to meet new challenges and opportunities. I am confident in our future as a sustainable, trustworthy and forward-looking company of the 21st century.”

Report highlights include:

•  The development of our new Supplier Code of Conduct that defines the minimum standards we expect from suppliers, to strengthen human rights management in our supply chain.
•  Our investment of more than £60million, over the last five years, in projects which support the communities where our companies work. This includes installing water filtration units in villages in Bangladesh to provide clean water.
•  Projects in our existing factories to reduce energy and water.
•  The work we do to communicate the importance of preventing youth access.
•  In 2015, we worked as part of an industry-wide initiative to strengthen supplier standards with the development of a new Sustainable Tobacco Programme, which replaced our Social Responsibility in Tobacco Production (SRTP) programme in June 2016.
•  The work we are doing to combat the illegal tobacco trade, including our 20-year cooperation agreement with the European Commission to which we are providing funding of 134 million euros.
•  We have invested significant time, funds and resources into developing a sustainable pipeline of high-quality Next Generation Products (NGP) to give consumers a choice of less risky alternatives to smoking. We have also developed and published new Vapour Products Marketing Principles to provide a globally consistent and responsible approach to the marketing of our Vapour Products.
   

The company’s ongoing commitment to and progress in reporting is reflected in the Group’s inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the last 14 years, 13 of which have been as industry leader.

To download the report, go to www.bat.com/sustainabilityreport