Philip Morris International has just published its Annual Integrated Report for 2022 – what is key about the company’s approach to sustainability and how is it integrated in the business?
I am very passionate about this topic because I was part of the global team working on this project. One interesting thing to note is that most people, when they talk about sustainability, mainly think about the impact of the products on the environment which is partially true but not enough. For us it is very clear: the biggest impact that PMI can have worldwide is transitioning adult smokers into better alternatives. That would by far have the highest impact on society and it has been our first priority for the past 12 years as we are the first big tobacco company that stated a very clear objective: all adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke need to convert to smoke-free alternatives. To achieve that we have invested significant amounts of money - over USD 10 billion globally or almost 99% of our investments are going into these better alternatives. This is a very important figure. Of course, we are also working in other areas that are very important for us. There are three main topics when it comes to ESG and sustainability. We want to focus on the impact of our products on society and of course on the governance impact. Our strategy globally is clear and we implement it into every single aspect of our business, in everything that we do – from the commercialisation of the products to the way we talk to our partners and the way our partners behave. We are very proud that we closely monitor our progress and not only issue global reports, but learn from them. We also do local research to understand the things that are relevant for the local communities, the things that we could do to have further impact here in Bulgaria and the ways in which we can at the end achieve change.
Can you share some key highlights from the report – especially on the product impact of the business of the company?
The social and environmental impact of our products is something that we’ve really been focused on in the last years, simply because we clearly see our responsibility to constantly improve ourselves. We also have a responsibility to all 25.8 million adult users of smoke-free alternatives in 73 markets around the world, 320,000 of which are in Bulgaria. Developing and commercialising smoke-free products takes a lot of investment and efforts that we have been strategically dedicating since 2008. Another very important aspect of how our business impacts the society is youth access prevention – 91% of our total shipment volume is covered by such programs in indirect channels. As a visionary company, we’re always thinking long-term and being mindful of environmental developments – 86% of IQOS devices returned to centralised recycling hubs are recycled, while 68 % of our shipment volume is covered by markets with anti-littering programs in place for combustible cigarettes.
You mentioned local communities – Philip Morris Bulgaria is also known for its local initiatives, how are they integrated into the strategy of the company?
First, we take these global strategies, and we localise them. We make them local. We try to get people involved. A good local example is #ChangeThePicture - an information campaign that aims to improve the awareness of one of the biggest issues when it comes to the environmental impact of our products - cigarette butts littering. We want to make people aware of the problem and of the impact that such behaviour has on the environment, as well as to help them by offering appropriate solutions to the cigarette butt littering issue. Another important project of ours is the “Summer For Joy, Autumn For Care” initiative that we implement with our local partners. We have been running it for several years trying to help different communities in the former tobacco-producing regions of Bulgaria. We are providing access to education and resources, so that the younger generations can move into new business areas and be able to take care of themselves and their families. We organise academies for students and teachers, as well as medical check-ups for the elderly. This is a project that we are very proud of. So far, we have supported more than 19,000 people, almost 3,300 of whom are children, and we want to continue to do that in partnership with other organisations and potentially the government. For the duration of this project, we have invested BGN 1,700,000 and will continue to do so.