One of the world’s leading tobacco manufacturers has committed itself to producing a social report in 2001.
British American Tobacco (BAT) will publish the document from a social audit of its activities to be carried out during 2000.
Michael Prideaux, corporate and regulatory affairs director of BAT, said the initiative was part of a drive to show the company was committed to social responsibility, despite its reputational problems.
‘If we work hard at it we may be able to earn a greater degree of acceptance than we have had in the past’, he said.
Prideaux said the company, which works in 180 countries, hopes to focus its future social policies on three areas: tertiary education, afforestation and help for small businesses.
He said BAT was ‘actively considering’ setting up scholarships for people in developing countries, was examining BAT’s use of wood fuel to cure tobacco, and was looking into start-up and mentoring schemes for young entrepreneurs in the developing world.
Prideaux said BAT needed to rationalise its community involvement. ‘At the moment we are trying to do too many different things around the world’, he said. ‘I would like us over time to become known for doing certain things, to become more focused and specialised.’
Some work has already begun in Brazil – in conjunction with the International Labour organization – on tackling child labour on tobacco farms with a programme that rewards farmers who keep their children in school.
Prideaux said the aim was eventually to produce a set of standards for all suppliers, although this was unlikely to coincide with the social report in 2001.
‘That might be a stretch for us’, he said. ‘We want to develop things in major markets like Brazil and then roll them out to the rest of the world as best practice. When we’ve got it right then we can make it mandatory.’ Auditing of the social report will be done ‘by one of the big firms’.
BAT has reputational problems due to its involvement in tobacco manufacture, but claims to have a better than average record in a number of areas – notably employee benefits and equal opportunities. ‘We have always done quite a lot in the area of community involvement, but haven’t reported it externally,’ said Prideaux.
He added that BAT was becoming more open in its attitude towards the health risks of tobacco.The company’s recent annual report acknowledged the link between smoking and serious diseases, and the website of its US subsidiary Brown & Williamson has carried smoking and health statements for the past two years.
As part of an attempt to show willing on the issue of health and smoking, BAT has been lobbying the UK government to raise the minimum age for smoking from 16 to 18.
It has also promised full and enthusiastic co-operation with the House of Commons health committee inquiry into the tobacco industry, which in July was given the job of examining what action companies are taking to respond to the harmful effects of smoking.