Communities

Our global operations include multiple supply chains, from agriculture to electronics and manufacturing.

Across all these areas, there are human rights considerations including workers’ rights, rural poverty and the risk of child labour, in particular, on small family farms.

We recognise our role to respect the human rights of employees, and workers in our value chain, as well as members of the local communities in which we operate.

How we’ll get there

We engage with the community groups where we operate, including farmers, non-tobacco suppliers and employees.

Employees

Employees are the foundation of our progress. Our people drive our transformation agenda and enable us to deliver on our purpose. We invest in their development through skills-building and knowledge transfer, ensuring they are equipped for the future.

Employee listening plays a vital role in creating an inclusive and engaging workplace. It ensures our values are not just words, but lived experiences, empowering employees to feel valued, heard, and motivated to contribute to our strategic ambitions.

Farmers

Most of our tobacco is sourced by our Group-owned vertically integrated Leaf Operations through approximately 91,000 directly contracted farmers.

The remaining tobacco is sourced from third-party suppliers that, in turn, contract with an estimated 134,000 farmers. The vast majority of tobacco farms in our supply chain are smallholder farms. We have programmes in place across our directly contracted farmer base to support and monitor performance across areas including human rights, environmental practices, and economic resilience. We expect the same from our third-party suppliers.

Non-tobacco suppliers

Beyond tobacco leaf, we work with approximately 25,000 suppliers globally who provide goods and services across our businesses. Through our independent supplier audit programmes we carry out audits on product materials and Higher-Risk Indirect Suppliers1 to identify and prioritise risk and guide our engagement. Our communities are at the heart of our business, and we will continue to work with them in ways that are sustainable, ethical, and designed to deliver a long-term impact.

Communities identified in our Double Materiality Assessment²

Our three key communities are integral to driving shared value and advancing our sustainability goals, fostering resilience and positive impact across our business and stakeholder groups.