Sustainability Investors Media Reporting Careers Contact us Worldwide Search About us Our products How we work Our industry Environmental and supply chain management Driving improvement We’re a global company, which means we have a global footprint. Reducing the environmental impacts of what we do is a key priority, and something that involves every single person who works for us. We have had a comprehensive Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) management system for many years. We monitor and reduce our direct environmental impacts by making our operations more efficient. We also seek to address our indirect impacts by choosing suppliers with strong environmental credentials and encouraging our existing suppliers to improve their environmental performance. The environment We expect the effects of climate change to be felt more strongly in the coming years. Resulting changes to the environment could make it harder for us to source tobacco and make and distribute our products, as well as affecting the communities and landscapes in which we operate. The success of our business now and in the future also depends on biodiversity as it provides resources like clean water, healthy soils and timber. We recognise that good environmental management is not only the right thing to do, but also makes sound business sense given how much we depend on natural resources for our products. Securing access to these resources, as well as being prepared for future changes, is key to ensuring the sustainability of our business. Our approach We work to address both our immediate environmental impacts and the likely environmental pressures on the business in the future. This involves risk assessments, performance management and making our operations more efficient. Environmental problems cannot be solved by one company acting alone. They also need flexibility – what works in one part of the world might not in another. So we also aim to work more with local communities and in collaboration with other international organisations. Our supply chain management We rely on a complex but critical supply chain and we need it to be fit for the future. That’s why we’re using our influence to improve sustainability from crop, all the way to the consumer. The nature of our industry means that our supply chain has two distinct supplier categories: tobacco leaf agricultural and non-agricultural materials, goods and services. For both areas, sustainability is integrated into our supply chain management strategies through our comprehensive supplier programmes and risk assessments, which include environmental criteria, as well as other social issues, such as human rights and labour practices, and governance issues, such as suppliers’ policies, procedures and management systems. Tobacco leaf agricultural suppliers Tobacco leaf remains at the core of our products, so ensuring we have a secure and sustainable agricultural supply chain for the long term is absolutely crucial to the success of our business. We have traceability down to the farm level and centralised management of our tobacco leaf supply chain. This enables an agile, efficient and reliable supply of high-quality tobacco leaf to meet consumer demand, while also enhancing the sustainability of rural communities and agriculture. In 2017, the BAT Group purchased more than 400,000 tonnes of tobacco leaf: 66% from 17 BAT leaf operations, which source from over 90,000 farmers; and 34% from 20+ third-party suppliers, which source from over 260,000 farmers. We also purchase a small amount of tobacco leaf sourced from auction floors. In total our agricultural supply chain covers 35 countries across North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. We set out our requirements for our leaf suppliers in our Leaf Supplier Manual (LSM). This includes a requirement for suppliers to take part in the Sustainable Tobacco Programme (STP), an industry-wide initiative that helps drive standards in agricultural practices, environmental management and key social and human rights areas. You can read more about these areas and our targets in this extract from the LSM (3.5 MB) . The LSM also addresses the use of agrochemicals (including an approved list of insecticides), and genetically modified tobacco compliance. We require all leaf suppliers to submit a risk assessment to help us identify the type and level of agrochemicals used, and to ensure there is no contamination of the crops by any genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This process helps us to identify the level of risk and determine how often a supplier should be reviewed to ensure compliance. We also have a Standard for Organic Tobacco Production, which sets strict requirements for organic tobacco growing. Although we do not currently source organic tobacco outside the US, this standard would apply to any of our leaf operations and suppliers worldwide. It requires a crop to be independently certified, such as to the EU Organic standard or the US National Organic Program standard, to be classed as 'organic'. In the US, our subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. has an organic tobacco growing programme which requires growers to be inspected and certified annually by a US Department of Agriculture-accredited organisation. Please see Sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods for detailed information on how we manage our tobacco leaf supply chain, including supplier assessments, farm monitoring, Extension Services and community programmes covering a range of economic, social and environmental issues. Non-agricultural suppliers In addition to tobacco leaf, the other direct materials we buy to make our products, such as paper and filters and the components that go into our Next Generation Products, represent our highest value strategic supply chain. In 2017, we had nearly 1,500 direct materials suppliers, based in 77 countries, managed by our global, regional and local Procurement teams. In addition, we have some 30,000 indirect suppliers worldwide of other goods and services, such as machinery, IT and professional services, based in more than 150 countries worldwide. We have a defined approach to identifying strategic suppliers, based on a range of factors including critical product components, supplier partnerships (such as for developing product innovations), and suppliers which represent a high volume or spend. Over 90% of our Direct Procurement spend is on strategic direct materials suppliers, and they all undergo an independent on-site audit, conducted by the global audit firm, Intertek, in order to be appointed as a supplier to BAT and then are re-audited every three years. The Intertek audit includes criteria covering forced labour, child labour, wages and hours, health and safety, environment and management systems. We also use our integrated supply chain due diligence (SCDD) programme to assess supplier’s inherent risks, using a series of independent indices developed by Verisk Maplecroft, a highly respected risk analytics consultancy. We then prioritise those suppliers identified as being exposed to the highest risks for either a self-assessment or an Intertek on-site audit. Please see Human rights and Modern Slavery Act for further details on our SCDD programme. They grow, we grow: helping farmers to thrive Sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods New programme drives industry-wide supplier standards Sustainable Tobacco Programme Respecting and recognising fundamental freedoms Human rights and Modern Slavery Act Sustainability Report Download our Sustainability Report 2017 Sustainable Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods Report Download our Sustainable Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods Focus Report 2017 How we work Sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods Environmental and supply chain management Environmental management Manufacturing Human rights and Modern Slavery Act Research and development Marketing our products responsibly Working with retailers Home How we work Environmental and supply chain management Latest tweets BAT Science @BAT_Sci #InVitro toxicological assessment is hugely important as a tool for BAT to assess our vaping and tobacco heating pr… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 02 Oct Our UK & Ireland Head of Legal & Ext Affairs Will Hill addresses vaping event, talking about BAT's commitmen… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 02 Oct Current UK share price 3557.00p +54.00p 02 Oct 2018 16:58 Quick Links Modern Slavery Act Statement Gender Pay Report Annual Report Sustainability Report Share price data Worldwide websites Email alerts Site map Contact us British American Tobacco p.l.c. 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