Sustainability
Pursuing our vision represents a great commercial opportunity as well as a significant contribution to society.
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.
During 2018, we have worked to ensure that ownership and action in our sustainability work is strongly supported at the local operating level within each division, where efficient and creative ideas and solutions are best placed and followed through.
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.
The most recent materiality analysis, conducted in 2016, forms the basis for our identified focus areas. The process was directed by the Group Management Team (GMT). Key internal stakeholders, representing all divisions, as well as external stakeholders and expertise provided input to the analysis. Relevant sustainability frameworks (including the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the GRI Standards framework) were consulted in the process to define the issues that are material to Swedish Match. Materiality was assessed based on 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 largely autonomous local units. While we take a common group approach in our focus areas, we at the same time allow for differences and tailored targets and actions at the local and divisional levels.
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.
The Company's CFO is responsible for sustainability issues at Swedish Match.
Swedish Match develops, manufactures, and sells quality products with market-leading brands. The Company’s product segments are Snus and moist snuff, Other tobacco products (cigars and chewing tobacco), Lights (matches, lighters, and complementary products), and Other operations. With its vision of “a world without cigarettes”, the Company is dedicated to the improvement of public health by offering attractive alternatives to cigarettes with its smokeless products.
Swedish Match is dependent on having relevance and size to reach new markets. A portfolio of various products is needed to be able to reach markets in the US and to successfully reach out with snus and nicotine products without tobacco.
All products are not for everyone and some consumer groups should not use certain products. This is particularly true for tobacco products which are intended for adult use only. Certain other consumer groups are also deemed vulnerable.
Swedish Match has an “Under 18: No Nicotine” policy which is a strengthening of our long standing “Under 18: No Tobacco” policy. This policy firmly states that all tobacco as well as nicotine-containing products shall only be sold to adults of legal tobacco age in each market, and who are 18 years of age or older. This means that we shall not direct any marketing, advertising or promotion of tobacco or nicotine containing products to persons under the age of 18 or if any higher age restriction applies locally.
To prevent the use of tobacco and nicotine by underage persons, we are committed to educating, informing and cooperating on an ongoing basis with retailers, distributors and public officials.
