Strategy and organization
Swedish Match addresses sustainability with the same priority and management approach as the rest of our strategic priorities.
Swedish Match’s vision is A world without cigarettes. Offering tobacco consumers alternative products to cigarettes is at the core of what we do. Pursuing our vision represents a great commercial opportunity as well as a significant contribution to society. This is where we believe that we are able to have the largest positive impact on society. We can also have a positive impact through how we manage our business, work with our suppliers and customers, and produce our goods.
Focus and organization ownership
Our sustainability strategy is founded on two basic principles – focus and organizational ownership. While our sustainability work spans across a broad array of topics, for best impact and transparency we believe that group-wide efforts and reporting are most effective if concentrated to key areas of focus with strong organization ownership. Through this strategy, we emphasize five focus areas – Improve public health, Ensure ethical business practices, Reduce environmental impact, Human rights in our supply chain, and Equal opportunity – areas where we believe we have the ability to directly or indirectly influence meaningful outcomes or where adverse developments could have a negative impact on our businesses. These focus areas form the basis for our common roadmap; this is where we put extra effort and coordinate external reporting. Swedish Match has set a series of tangible commitments and goals for each of the focus areas and will continue to measure and report its progress. Our Code of Conduct forms a foundation for our sustainability approach and efforts throughout the Group. It represents the commitment of Swedish Match and all our employees to conduct business activities in a responsible manner, demonstrating integrity and respect to our stakeholders and society as a whole.
Swedish Match is a global company made up of largely autonomous divisions. We have ensured that the 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 most likely to come up and best followed through. While taking a common Group approach in our focus areas, we maintain a number of sustainability initiatives above and beyond these focus areas with tailored targets and actions at the divisional levels.
Integrating sustainability1)
Sustainability is embedded in our value proposition and is a significant driver of our long-term success. It is managed and driven from the highest levels of our organization. The Group Management Team (GMT) has the overall responsibility for Swedish Match’s efforts on sustainability. The GMT and other leaders within the Group are committed to and involved in the process to define and further develop the strategy. Divisional heads are responsible for implementing the strategy in their respective operating units.
Swedish Match addresses sustainability with the same priority and management approach as the rest of our strategic priorities. It is fully integrated into our business reviews, strategic planning, and risk management process. Each quarter the divisions are responsible to provide progress updates for each sustainability focus area, creating a positive forum for discussion of opportunities and risks. The controlling function at group level, headed by the CFO, ensures a consistent approach to sustainability reporting across the Company, and follows up on our sustainability goals and KPIs in the same rigid manner as the financial targets. The CFO reports to the Board of Directors on progress for our common sustainability focus areas on a regular basis.
1) The data scope of this report excludes the recently acquired company Fire-Up International B.V. (February 3, 2021), and partly excludes Swedish Match Denmark, previously V2 Tobacco, (August 31, 2017), House of Oliver Twist (April 3, 2018), and Gotlandssnus (August 22, 2018). The Company continues its efforts to integrate data with Swedish Match protocols and standards.
