Showcasing how British American Tobacco is responding to a changing world is the focus for its latest Sustainability Report, out now.

As a key strategic focus area, sustainability is crucial to the delivery of the Group strategy and is integrated across all parts of the business. Now in BAT’s 15th year of sustainability reporting, this new report details the Group’s 2016 performance in the three areas of harm reduction; sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods; and corporate behaviour and how it is responding to the challenges and opportunities they create.

Nicandro Durante, Chief Executive of British American Tobacco, comments: “We have always done our utmost to uphold high standards, openly engage with our stakeholders and work to strengthen our approach to align to their expectations.

“We’re taking everything we’ve learned over the years into the development of more global initiatives, which will help us to better quantify our contribution and ultimately demonstrate that what we do doesn’t just benefit our shareholders, but can also have a wider, positive impact.

“None of this is possible without the hard work, dedication, passion and energy I see in our people every day, at every level of the business. It gives me confidence in a sustainable and successful future for us all.”

Building on BAT's long history of open and responsive stakeholder engagement, in 2016 the Company invited key opinion leaders to offer comment on the materiality of its Sustainability Report and a collective opinion on the Group’s performance. This independent review is an important element of helping stakeholders place trust in what BAT reports, and supports its commitment to openness and transparency.

Performance highlights include:

• BAT’s investment of over US$1 billion over the last five years in researching, developing and commercialising a new generation of Vapour and Tobacco Heating Products, which offer consumers potentially less risky alternatives to conventional cigarettes;

• Case studies on products launches of its Vype Pebble Vapour Product in Italy and its innovative Tobacco Heating Product, glo, in Japan;

• Addressing the key concerns about Next Generation Products by outlining the views of selected independent experts and the results of peer-reviewed research studies;

• The launch of the new Sustainable Agriculture and Farmer Livelihoods (SAFL) programme focused on meeting the needs of rural communities where BAT sources tobacco leaf;

• Case studies on community-based projects to tackle rural poverty in Sri Lanka and to address child labour in tobacco growing in Indonesia;

• BAT’s number one ranking among FTSE100 companies in the Institute of Directors’ 2016 Good Governance Report;

• Strengthening due diligence processes for non-agricultural suppliers to be better aligned to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

• Publication of a new set of environmental targets to achieve by 2025 and the significant progress against the Group’s long-term carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) reduction target, with a 47% reduction in CO2e emissions (from year 2000 baseline).

To download the report, visit www.bat.com/sustainabilityreport