The traditional, operational, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics usually do not account for the impact of a company’s products and services.
We recognize that exemplary performance on ESG is important, but it is equally clear that the biggest positive impact PMI can have on society is to replace cigarettes with less-harmful alternatives. This is at the very core of our corporate strategy and sits atop our sustainability priorities.
In 2016, to make our progress both measurable and verifiable, as well as allowing anyone to scrutinize the pace and scale of our transformation, we introduced a set of bespoke Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) we called Business Transformation Metrics.
These metrics can help our stakeholders assess our purpose, actions, resource allocation, and outcomes achieved. We constantly review and calibrate this list of metrics based on stakeholder feedback. Through this data, we are able to demonstrate the progress we are making toward achieving our goal of eliminating cigarettes and delivering on our corporate purpose of a smoke-free future.
This June 2020, we published our first Integrated Report, demonstrating the alignment and further integration of our business and sustainability strategies. Within, we have added 10 new indicators as part of our Business Transformation Metrics that further demonstrate the massive shift happening within our business, and the rapid pace of our transformation. Some examples of these new data points include the total stock keeping unit (SKU) count of our combustible and smoke-free products, and the availability of our smoke-free products, both worldwide and in non-OECD countries.
Working together for a smoke-free future
Our metrics show how far we’ve come since announcing our smoke-free vision in 2016, but while our commitment to a sustainable smoke-free future is unwavering, we cannot complete this journey alone.
Engaging with stakeholders from diverse sectors, such as regulators, public health bodies, enforcement agencies, e-waste recyclers, NGOs, investors, wholesalers, farmers, and civil society is part of our journey helping us to realize our vision of a smoke-free future. We believe that dialogue, participative processes, and the disclosure of company information and scientific data, is fundamental to achieving a future without cigarettes.
With the right regulatory environment, and support from civil society, cigarettes may be completely replaced in many countries within 10 to 15 years. This is a future we can all work towards.
This communication should be read in conjunction with PMI’s Integrated Report 2019, available here.
Aspirational targets and goals do not constitute financial projections, and achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties, and inaccurate assumptions, as outlined in the forward-looking and cautionary statements on page 189 of the Integrated Report 2019. Key terms, definitions and explanatory notes are set forth in the Integrated Report 2019. In the 2019 Integrated Report and in related communications, the term “materiality,” “material,” and similar terms, when used in the context of economic, environmental and social topics, are defined in the referenced sustainability standards, and are not meant to correspond to the concept of materiality under the U.S. securities laws and/or disclosures required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
