Sustainability
Swedish Match’s vision is a world without cigarettes. Offering tobacco consumers alternative products to cigarettes is at the core of what we do.
Our sustainability strategy emphasizes six areas – public health, ethical business practices, equal opportunity, greenhouse gases, waste, and child labor, which are material to our Company as a whole and in the long term. Our vision of a world without cigarettes is central to our sustainability strategy and how we contribute to making the world a better place.
Swedish Match has committed to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions 41 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050 from a 2017 base year. In 2018, these targets were submitted to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)1) for an official validation and verified against the SBTi criteria. Swedish Match is proud to announce that in March 2019, the targets were approved. This means that SBTi has recognized Swedish Match’s targets as being science-based and thus in line with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures.
1) The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The SBTi defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting and independently assesses and approves companies’ targets.
Successful sustainability activities require a methodical approach to reporting. During the past year we have identified six focus areas where we will devote most of our efforts and communication going forward.
The Code of Conduct represents the commitment of Swedish Match and of all employees to conduct business activities in a responsible manner and consistent with applicable laws and regulations. The Code consists of a number of topics related to the following four areas: our people, our business, our environment, and our job and workplace.
Our most recent stakeholder survey (with customers, consumers, suppliers, employees, the financial and scientific communities, as well as regulators) on sustainability topics was conducted in 2015. Results from the survey provided important input to a materiality analysis conducted in 2016. The process, resulting in our focus areas, was directed by the Group Management Team. Key internal stakeholders representing a wide range of departments and different operating units were involved and external expertise was consulted. Relevant sustainability frameworks were consulted in the process to define the issues that are material to Swedish Match. Materiality was assessed on the basis of the severity of issues in the global context, the Company’s actual impact, our potential to directly or indirectly influence the issue, as well as its impact on the long term viability of our business.
Our focus areas form the basis for our common roadmap; this is where we put extra effort and coordinate external reporting of our progress. Swedish Match is a global company made up of fairly autonomous local units. Our aim has been to establish a common group approach in our focus areas, while at the same time allowing for differences and tailored targets and actions at local operating unit level. Sustainability work spans across a broad array of topics, and for best impact and transparency we believe that group-wide efforts and reporting are most effective if concentrated to key areas of focus. Other sustainability efforts relevant to our Company, outside the scope of our focus areas, will continue to be encouraged and are best managed locally. This includes, for example, operational health and safety and emphasizing the well-being of our employees.
Senior Vice President Investor Relations and Corporate Sustainability is responsible for sustainability issues at Swedish Match.
