Innovating for better products is at the core of PMI’s corporate strategy, and is where the company believes it can make the greatest societal impact. Its smoke-free transformation has also required an increased emphasis on sustainability. This includes the effective management of three key topics:
- Operational topics, such as responsible commercialization and respect for human rights.
- Social topics, such as the socio-economic well-being of tobacco-farming communities and the health, safety, and well-being of all at work.
- Environmental topics, such as climate protection, littering prevention, and eco-design and circularity.
The DJSI assessed PMI’s substantial progress and leadership across many of these areas, awarding the company top scores in the tobacco industry for Innovation Management, Environmental Reporting, Climate Strategy, and Human Rights. This has resulted in PMI increasing its total sustainability score by more than 80 percent since 2017.
Recognizing continued progress
For the third year in a row, PMI led the industry in DJSI’s Innovation Management category. Innovation Management assesses companies’ research and development spending, product innovations, and portfolios of tobacco alternatives and reduced-risk products. PMI invests heavily into its product development and research, and it received a perfect score in the Tobacco Alternatives & Reduced Risk Product category.
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In 2016, PMI introduced its Business Transformation Metrics to clearly showcase the pace and scale of its transformation. This allows stakeholders to assess the actions, resource allocation, and outcomes achieved in the company’s rapid advancement toward a smoke-free future.
The company’s substantial progress in achieving its climate targets was also reflected in the DJSI scores published in November 2020. PMI received a perfect score in the sub-categories of Management Incentives, Climate Change Strategy, Scenario Analysis, Climate-Related Targets, and Scope-GHG Emissions.
By the end of 2019, PMI had achieved a 42 percent absolute reduction of carbon emissions across its whole value chain (scopes 1, 2, and 3) versus its 2010 baseline.1 The company aims to achieve carbon neutrality in its direct operations (scope 1 and 2) by 2030, and across its whole value chain (scope 1, 2, and 3) by 2050.
Human rights is another area where PMI continues to make significant progress, in line with its Human Rights Roadmap. This outlines how the company aims to avoid, mitigate, and remediate any human rights risks and impacts that may arise across its operations and value chain.
The company also received a perfect score in Commitment, Due Diligence, and Disclosure in the Human Rights category of the DJSI.
“We congratulate PMI for being included in the DJSI North America Index,” said Manjit Jus, Global Head of ESG Research and Data, S&P Global. “A DJSI distinction is a reflection of being a sustainability leader in your industry. With a record number of companies participating in the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Assessment and more stringent rules for inclusion this year, this sets your company apart and rewards your continued commitment to people and planet.”
PMI remains committed to achieving its sustainability targets. We welcome Dow Jones’s tracking of our corporate sustainability progress, and look forward to demonstrating further progress in the coming months and years.
1 ESG Highlights from our Integrated Report 2019, page 25.