Social Report 2006/2007

Foreword

I am delighted to present British American Tobacco’s first EU Social Report. It summarises the debate and feedback received in dialogue sessions involving a wide range of stakeholders in the EU institutions and EU member state governments as well as stakeholders from trade unions, business groups and the scientific community. The report gives a detailed account of participants’ expectations and of our company’s reactions and responses. Most importantly, it details what actions British American Tobacco has committed to take in the next 12 months to respond to expectations. A fully comprehensive report of every single expectation, response and commitment can be found on the following sections of this site. Action not words Many if not most of the participants in this first EU social reporting process made it abundantly clear that, whilst the dialogue was interesting, what really counted was what British American Tobacco would do. Action not words.  We agree entirely that we should be judged not by what we say but by what we do. So, along with a full list of our commitments, we stipulate measurement criteria such as deadlines and delivery methods which will help stakeholders assess whether and to what extent we actually fulfill our promises. Although we only initiated a stakeholder dialogue at the EU level in 2006, over 30 of our companies around the world have been conducting the social reporting process for a number of years. So what has it actually delivered? What has changed as a result? Here are a few examples:

• In May 2005 we launched snus in test markets in South Africa and Sweden and other countries will follow. The move was a response to a number of public health stakeholders who told us that they believe snus, properly regulated, can contribute to reducing the health impact of tobacco, and to consumers, who said in a social reporting dialogue that developing less harmful products is one of the most important things a tobacco business could do.
• British American Tobacco companies are engaging with governments worldwide for a regulated minimum age of 18 for sales of tobacco products. This was in response to views expressed in social reporting by the public health community and others that such legislation could help prevent underage access to tobacco products and that we should do what we could to make it a reality.
• A British American Tobacco website, www.bat-ingredients.com, provides consumers with extensive details of ingredients used in our cigarette brands and other tobacco products. First launched in 2003, it covers brands in over 120 countries including all EU Members States with more being added on a regular basis. In social reporting, stakeholders indicated strongly that they expected the company to be more transparent about the ingredients used in its products. We committed therefore to provide consumers with a meaningful list of ingredients.

Giving stakeholders a real say

Many participants in this first EU cycle said they would be looking to see if the social reporting process was a "one-off", PR-type exercise. That is certainly not our view nor our intention. The process has been deliberately designed to be robust, systematic, independently run and subject to external assurance throughout. We also see social reporting as a long-term, continuous process and plan to consult with EU stakeholders regularly as we move forward. In this way we can continue listening carefully to what society expects and adjust our business practices accordingly.

As part of the next cycle, we will be presenting publicly our performance in delivering on the commitments made in this report and asking for your views and input. We believe that it gives you, the stakeholders, a real say and we hope you will take the opportunity of guiding us in the right direction.

I would like to thank Mr Pavel Telička, who was the independent moderator for all of the dialogue sessions and individual interviews. His experience and objectivity helped enormously in creating the right sort of atmosphere for a productive exchange of views. I am very grateful too to all the many stakeholders who took the time and trouble to participate and share their honest and sometimes very critical views. Their various perspectives on the role and responsibilities of a tobacco company such as ours were invaluable. We did invite members of the tobacco control community but none felt in a position to attend. We hope that over time that might change as we believe their views are pertinent and important to how we manage our business.

Can a tobacco company be responsible?

At a very fundamental level, some people continue to question whether a tobacco company can be responsible because its products can harm people. We believe that this reality reinforces the need for us to manage all of our business activities responsibly. We do not claim to have all of the answers to the question of what that responsibility really means. It is our experience that the candid feedback provided during the social reporting process does provide some of the answers - and also helps us to avoid mistakes.

It is my sincere hope that this report, the actions which flow from it and the social reporting process will form a basis for regular dialogue with EU audiences on tobacco and smoking issues. Improvement will be a continuous and evolutionary process and the quality of results will be heavily dependent on stakeholder participation and feedback.

Ben Stevens
Director, Europe
British American Tobacco

Back | Top of the page