Report communicates progress toward achieving sustainability targets and gives stakeholders an update on the company’s transformation to accelerate the end of smoking.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 17, 2022– Today, Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE: PM) released its third annual Integrated Report, which includes an updated Statement of Purpose, a new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework, as well as detailed information about PMI’s strategic vision, performance, governance, and value creation model. The content was informed by a formal sustainability materiality assessment conducted in 2021.
“Sustainability and business performance are fully interrelated and mutually reinforcing. Our actions—grounded in data, science, and facts—speak louder than words. PMI is committed to serving as an agent of change and advocate of positive values. We understand that our business must become a provider of effective alternatives to continued smoking for adult smokers who don’t quit. To achieve this, we are positioning ourselves at the forefront of consumer-centricity, technology, science, and innovation. With an eye to the long term, we are also expanding our business into areas beyond tobacco and nicotine such as wellness and healthcare,” said Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer of PMI.
PMI has expanded its social, human, intellectual, and manufactured capital in ways that allow it to go a step further, shifting focus to its long-term goal from doing less harm to having a net positive impact on society. The changes to the company’s Statement of Purpose ensure it remains a current and fair representation of the company’s strategy, expanding the last horizon from achieving a smoke-free future to also encompassing PMI’s long-term strategic efforts to become a lifestyle, wellness, and healthcare company.
The company’s 2021 sustainability materiality assessment helped identify the ESG issues on which PMI should prioritize and focus its resources. PMI subsequently redesigned our ESG framework, recognizing two distinct topic areas: those related to PMI’s products and those related to its business operations. This distinction forms the basis of PMI’s new approach to sustainability, which consists of eight clear impact-driven strategies that aim to address its most material ESG topics. These eight strategies—four aimed to address the impact of PMI’s products and four aimed to address the company’s operational impact—are accompanied by a robust framework of nine governance-related factors.
PMI’s 2025 Roadmap was revamped accordingly, and it now consists of 11 goals directly linked to these eight strategies, clearly explaining the social and environmental impacts PMI aims to achieve. Further, to clearly assess progress toward achieving these goals, PMI introduced 19 concrete KPIs to transparently showcase how the company defines success and evaluates progress, making its improvement both measurable and verifiable. Altogether, these KPIs make up the company’s new Sustainability Index, which explicitly links 30% of the company’s long-term compensation program to ESG performance.
Said Emmanuel Babeau, Chief Financial Officer of PMI, “I’m proud to be able to say that our executive compensation program now reflects our commitment to put sustainability at the core of our corporate strategy. PMI’s Sustainability Index aligns us even further with the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders, forming a strong link between our executive compensation practices and the company’s short- and long-term ESG performance.”
In its 2021 Integrated Report and aligned with its new strategy, PMI organized its description of progress into two categories: the impact of its products and the impact of its operations. Highlights include the following:
Product impact*
- 21.7 million* total adult users of PMI’s smoke-free products as of December 31, 2021, of whom 15.3 million* have switched and stopped smoking; up from 18.3 million* and 13.0 million*, respectively, in 2020.
- 29.1%* of adjusted net revenues derived from smoke-free products, which were available for sale in 71 markets worldwide by year end; up from 23.8%* and 64, respectively, in 2020.
- 99% of adjusted R&D expenditure on smoke-free products totaling USD 566 million, consistent in proportion but 14% higher in dollar terms than the USD 495 million spent in 2020.
- 86% recycling rate of IQOS devices returned to our centralized recycling hubs, weighted-average percentage of each device that is recycled, vs. 84% in 2020.
Operational impact*
- 39.7% of management positions held by women, on track to achieve 2022 target of 40%.
- Five human rights impact assessments conducted since 2018 in highest-risk countries and action plans being implemented, up from four in 2020.
- 67% of contracted farmers supplying tobacco to PMI who make a living income, up from 48% in 2020.
- Reduced total value chain CO2e emissions (scope 1+2+3) by 18% and emissions from direct operations (scope 1+2) by 33% vs. 2019 baseline.
- 100% of tobacco purchased at no risk of deforestation of primary and protected forests.
“Our 2021 Integrated Report aims to address demands for more robust, comparable, and reliable
information on our ESG risks and performance, including data related to our company’s transformation, offering our stakeholders visibility into the future we are working toward,” said Jennifer Motles, Chief Sustainability Officer at PMI. “2021 was a year full of achievements, but challenges remain. As we continue to transform, learn, and discover better ways to develop solutions that have meaningful impact, we hope our transparency and willingness to engage will spark dialogue with those who can help accelerate the pace of change.”
The preparation of the 2021 Integrated Report considers guidance of international standards and frameworks, including: the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI); the UN Global Compact (UNGC); the UN Sustainable Development Goals; the Value Reporting Foundation (VRF), including use of its SASB Standards, Integrated Thinking Principles, and Integrated Reporting Framework; and some of the recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
To read the report, visit PMI Integrated Report 2021; to find out more about sustainability at PMI, please click here to visit the website.
Philip
Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future
Philip Morris International (PMI) is a leading
international tobacco company working to deliver a smoke-free future and
evolving its portfolio for the long term to include products outside of the
tobacco and nicotine sector. The company’s current product portfolio primarily
consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat not-burn, vapor,
and oral nicotine products, which are sold in markets outside
the U.S. Since 2008, PMI has invested more than USD 9
billion to develop, scientifically substantiate, and commercialize
innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to
smoke, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. This includes
the building of world-class scientific assessment capabilities, notably in the
areas of pre-clinical systems toxicology, clinical and behavioral research, as
well as post-market studies. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has authorized the marketing of versions of
PMI’s IQOS Platform 1 devices and consumables as
Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTPs), finding that exposure modification
orders for these products are appropriate to promote the public health. As
of March 31, 2022, PMI’s smoke-free products were available for sale in 71
markets. With a strong foundation and significant expertise in life sciences,
in February 2021 PMI announced its ambition to
expand into wellness and healthcare areas and deliver innovative products and
solutions that aim to address unmet consumer and patient needs. For more
information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.
*Figures presented for 2021 and 2020 include Russia and Ukraine. Given the uncertainty and volatility regarding the company’s operations in Russia and Ukraine, in PMI’s Q1 2022 earnings release on April 21, 2022, PMI also provided figures and comparisons on a pro forma basis, which exclude the company’s operations in these two markets for all periods and provide a more comparable view of PMI’s business performance.