{"id":297,"date":"2023-08-07T12:01:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/cds\/?p=297"},"modified":"2023-08-07T12:02:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:02:00","slug":"unsustainable-big-tobaccos-use-of-the-un-sdgs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/cds\/2023\/08\/07\/unsustainable-big-tobaccos-use-of-the-un-sdgs\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsustainable: Big Tobacco\u2019s use of the UN SDGs"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Tom Gatehouse and Britta Matthes. This piece was first published in Tobacco Tactics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals in key areas for humanity and planet Earth. They are part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development<\/a>, adopted by all UN member states in 2015, and are expected to define national political agendas until 2030.1<\/a><\/sup>2<\/a><\/sup> According to the UN, the SDGs and the Agenda for Sustainable Development provide \u201ca shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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A wide view of the projections in the General Assembly Hall during the SDG Moment 2022. Credit: UN Photo\/Manuel Elias<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Along with alcohol, tobacco is the only consumer product mentioned specifically in the Agenda.3<\/a><\/sup> As part of SDG 3 \u2013 \u201cEnsure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages\u201d \u2013 UN member states pledged to \u201cStrengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control<\/a> [WHO FCTC] in all countries, as appropriate.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup> This pledge is known as Target 3.a, and it has implications which go far beyond SDG 3.<\/p>\n

In recent years, tobacco control advocates, researchers and other public health experts have made the case that the tobacco industry is a threat not only to health and well-being, but to many other aspects of development. They have documented a range of wider social, political, economic and environmental harms associated with the industry.5<\/a><\/sup>6<\/a><\/sup>7<\/a><\/sup> As Margaret Chan, then Director-General of the World Health Organization, warned in 2017:<\/p>\n

\u201ctobacco use \u2026 threatens development in every country on every level and across many sectors \u2014 economic growth, health, education, poverty and the environment \u2014 with women and children bearing the brunt of the consequences.\u201d8<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reinforcing tobacco control could therefore boost progress not only on global public health, but also on other development issues like poverty, child mortality and food security.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Though the WHO FCTC requires Parties to develop and implement multisectoral national tobacco control strategies, the responsibility has often fallen on ministries of health and related institutions, with other government departments sometimes uninterested or even resistant when it comes to tobacco control.9<\/a><\/sup> However, thanks to Target 3.a, tobacco control is now part of a broader agenda which requires the engagement of UN agencies and government departments beyond those associated with public health. These include institutions which have historically been susceptible to tobacco industry interference, such as ministries of trade and agriculture.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In this sense, the SDGs have the potential to facilitate more integrated, extensive and effective tobacco control measures, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where over 80% of the world\u2019s 1.3 billion tobacco users live.10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

This means there is an irreconcilable conflict between the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda on the one hand, and the interests of the tobacco industry on the other.<\/p>\n

The industry response<\/h3>\n

One might think this would lead the tobacco industry to attack, repudiate, or simply ignore the SDGs. But on the contrary, the major transnational tobacco companies \u2013 often called \u201cBig Tobacco\u201d, or the \u201cBig Four\u201d<\/a> \u2013 were very quick to embrace them.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the year the SDGs were launched, Philip Morris International<\/a> (PMI) stated that it welcomed the adoption of the SDGs as \u201can additional reference for our sustainability journey,\u201d and that it would align its \u201cwork to the SDGs and commit to play our part in making them become reality\u201d.11<\/a><\/sup> The following year, the then British American Tobacco<\/a> (BAT) CEO Nicandro Durante<\/a> wrote in the company\u2019s 2016 sustainability report, \u201cI see a clear alignment between the SDGs and our own sustainability priorities.\u201d12<\/a><\/sup> In 2017, Japan Tobacco International<\/a> (JTI) CEO Masamichi Terabatake stressed that JTI\u2019s approach \u201csupports the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations.\u201d13<\/a><\/sup> Also in 2017, Imperial Brands<\/a> stated that it was mapping its corporate responsibility programmes \u201cagainst the UN Sustainable Development Goals.\u201d14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In the years since, the SDGs have been ever more visible in communications produced by the Big Four. All four companies use the UN\u2019s own imagery representing the 17 SDGs in their reporting \u2013 as may be seen below:15<\/a><\/sup>16<\/a><\/sup>17<\/a><\/sup>18<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Pages from Big Four corporate publications. Clockwise from top left: BAT\u2019s ESG Report 2020; PMI\u2019s Sustainability Development Goals index 2021; JT Group\u2019s 2018 Sustainability Report; Imperial Brands\u2019 Sustainability Performance Summary 2021<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2020 and 2021, PMI even published a dedicated \u201cSustainable Development Goals index\u201d, outlining how it believes its business activities contribute to the SDGs (see top right image above).16<\/a><\/sup>19<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

But Big Tobacco\u2019s enthusiasm for the SDGs is just the latest manifestation of a decades-old tactic. Ever since the risks of tobacco use were established, the industry has attempted to claim a role as a legitimate partner in discussions of public health \u2013 all the while continuing to sell a product that kills up to half of its long-term users.10<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Likewise, with growing awareness of the threat tobacco poses to global development, the industry now presents itself as a champion of the cause \u2013 though its operations continue to hold back progress on many levels.<\/p>\n

Although tobacco use and its production negatively impact all 17 SDGs, what follows here is an analysis of industry discourse on some of the SDGs to which the Big Four devote most attention.20<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

SDG 3: \u201cEnsure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages\u201d<\/h3>\n

For decades, the Big Four have made many billions of dollars selling a product which is the world\u2019s biggest cause of preventable disease and premature death.21<\/a><\/sup> Yet all stress their commitment to SDG 3, largely through linking it to harm reduction<\/a>, with claims that they are improving the health and well-being of people who smoke by offering newer and \u201cless harmful\u201d or \u201cless risky\u201d products, such as e-cigarettes<\/a>, heated tobacco products<\/a> and nicotine pouches<\/a>. As BAT states in its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, \u201cOur portfolio reflects our commitment to reducing the health impact of our business by creating new products, backed by science, that provide adult smokers with less risky alternatives.\u201d22<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

However, while the global market for newer nicotine and tobacco products<\/a> is growing rapidly, as of 2021, cigarettes still accounted for over 83% of the total market value of all nicotine and tobacco products worldwide \u2013 \u00a0a total of $779 billion.23<\/a><\/sup> Contrary to tobacco companies\u2019 harm reduction narratives, cigarettes are the foundation of the industry, and will remain so for the foreseeable future \u2013 as they openly admit:<\/p>\n