The tobacco industry comes in for criticism on many fronts, from the health effects and addictive nature of its core product, to concerns about child labour on tobacco farms and the risks of green tobacco sickness, a type of nicotine poisoning caused by handling tobacco leaf without the correct protective equipment. What is less talked about is its environmental effects.
A new report from global industry watchdog STOP looks at the crop’s ecological impacts and questions the role of sustainability platforms and award schemes in giving the industry what it says is an unwarranted veneer of sustainable respectability.
“It’s an industry that is not only killing its long-term consumers, but it’s killing the planet,” says Andy Rowell, a senior research fellow at the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group. The group is a member of STOP, which produced the report along with the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the WHO, to produce in the region of six trillion cigarettes a year, the industry uses 32 tonnes of tobacco leaf, which itself needs huge amounts of fertiliser, pesticides and 22 billion tonnes of water to grow. The industry also emits 80 million tonnes of CO2 a year which, says Rowell, means that “as an industry they’ve got the same climatic impact as one of the large multinational oil companies”.
Around 5% of all global deforestation is also linked to the industry, both in the clearing of land for growing tobacco and also the use of wood for curing.
Asked to respond to the report, Simon Evans, group media relations manager at Imperial Brands, which includes John Player Special and Winston, said in a written statement that the company accepted the responsibilities that came with its role as a major consumer food business.
“Sustainable tobacco leaf production is only possible through a responsible approach to the husbandry of the natural habitats in which the crop is grown.
“We actively support our tobacco leaf suppliers to protect the soils and water that are essential to the continued viability of the crop. We do this though our comprehensive supplier management programmes and standards, which fully reflect our sustainability strategies.”
Rowell argues that farming could be revolutionised across huge swathes of Africa, Asia and Latin America if tobacco farming communities were able to grow crops that are more useful, profitable and safer. But farmers are often tied to long agreements with tobacco companies: “It’s really difficult for farmers to break the chain once they’ve signed,” he says.
In March, the issue came to a head, when Kenya became the first country to embrace the Tobacco-Free Farms project, a joint initiative of WHO, the World Food Programme, and the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Now, hundreds of farmers are ditching tobacco in favour of high-iron beans, a more sustainable crop that can be used to feed local communities.
According to the WHO, the project has already seen farmers’ health improve, increased school attendance from children previously working on the farms, and crops that are better than tobacco for the environment.
Tobacco’s other big environmental problem is the cigarette butt. Every minute 8.5 million of what STOP describes as tiny toxic timebombs are discarded, each with the potential to wreak ecological havoc.
The butts can take a decade to biodegrade, and leach a toxic mixture of chemicals, including arsenic, lead and ethyl phenol. One lab-based study published by the Truth Initiative, a U.S. nonprofit public health organisation, found that the chemicals that leached from a single cigarette butt over 24 hours released enough toxins to kill 50% of saltwater and freshwater fish, which had been exposed to it for 96 hours. When butts do finally break down, they then shed thousands of micro-plastic threads into the environment, the Truth Initiative says.
The report criticises established sustainability platforms such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, for including tobacco companies, which it says gives credence to tobacco’s claims to be sustainability leaders.
UK tobacco giant Imperial Brands, for instance, has been named in CDP’s “A” list for reporting on climate impacts for the third consecutive year, recognition for its actions to cut emissions, mitigate climate risks and transition to a lower-carbon economy. It is also included in CDP’s Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for engaging its suppliers in helping deliver its commitment to reach net-zero global emissions by 2040, a target that has been validated by the Science-based Targets Initiative. The CDP ranking, says Imperial, further underscores its “leadership status in environmental transparency and action.”
Rowell of the University of Bath says rather than focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics of how a company operates, indices should look at the sustainability of its core product. “To me there is a fundamental (flaw) in what the Carbon Disclosure Project are doing, which is that they’re not actually looking at … the core problems of the product, and the industry are using those awards to buy social licence.”
But Dexter Galvin, CDP’s global director of corporations and supply chains, believes it is better to engage with businesses across all sectors rather than ignore them.
“The major tobacco companies (the 2021 A List also includes Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco and Altria Group) that are getting As, not only are they reporting on their own operations but also what they are doing in their supply chains,” he continues. The listing recognises they are on the right trajectory, they’re collecting the right data and are working to reduce their overall environmental impacts.
“We need to make sure that they are disclosing that data and we are holding them to account, because the alternative is simply vast parts of the economy that are held to no standard at all.”
With the introduction of next-generation products such as vapes, e-cigarettes and oral tobacco, the product is changing from an essentially agricultural supply chain into a new electronics space. But that shift brings a raft of new potential environmental impacts, including from the expanded use of single-use plastic, batteries with rare-earth minerals and chemicals, Rowell points out. The industry already produces 2 million tonnes of packaging waste a year.
Galvin of CDP sees challenges ahead for tobacco. “This is a very significant shift for that industry and a big change in its environmental impact,” he explains. “What we are looking to do in our new 2025 strategy is to expand our remit into other areas of environmental disclosure, and that would include waste.”
In his written statement, Evans of Imperial Brands said: “We are committed to improving the sustainability of materials and packaging used, and are examining ways to increase the amount of recycled and recyclable packaging, as well as reduce the use of virgin plastic.”
These new products are heavily marketed to a younger audience, many of whom are environmentally conscious, says Rowell, and this is where he believes the tobacco industry could come unstuck.
“You’ve got lots of young consumers who may vape … but they won’t have thought of the ecological impacts of these products,” he says. When they do, he believes they may well turn their back on them. “That’s the Achilles heel of the industry,” he says.
Mark Hillson – Reuters – 2022-06-07.
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