Firms Recognized for Sustainability
Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco have been recognized for their environmental initiatives.
For the fourth consecutive year, PMI received a triple-A rating from CDP for its disclosures on climate change, forests and water security.
PMI has maintained a position on CDP’s Climate A-List for the past 10 years, reflecting its commitment to transparency and performance as the company progresses toward achieving its science-based targets as well as carbon neutrality for scope 1 and 2 by 2025 and net zero by 2040 for scope 1, 2 and 3.
PMI’s efforts to halt deforestation, moving to zero net deforestation in managed forests by 2030, have further been recognized by CDP, which placed the company on its Forests A-List for the fourth consecutive year. This is the fifth year that PMI has been featured on CDP’s Water A-List as the company works toward its water optimization targets, which include optimization of 10 million cubic meters of water in its tobacco growing areas by 2030.
“External recognition from organizations like CDP encourages us to continue our transformation journey and commitment to sustainability. We are pleased PMI has received CDP’s triple-A distinction for the fourth consecutive time,” said Scott Coutts, senior vice president of operations, in a statement. “Clear and transparent reporting of our progress helps us find new opportunities for action, identify and tackle growing risks, and get ahead of regulatory and policy changes.”
PMI is also committed to advancing the adoption of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recommendations and intends to publish its first TNFD-aligned report for financial year 2025. Accordingly, PMI has been included in an inaugural cohort of organizations that intend to become TNFD early adopters.
“We recognize the urgency to address climate change and protect biodiversity, and this is why our decarbonization strategy and progress are closely tied to preserving natural ecosystems,” said Jennifer Motles, chief sustainability officer. “We are proud to be an early adopter of the TNFD framework and will be reporting on it in 2025, which builds on the work we have already done to incorporate climate-related risk and opportunities into our overall business strategy and disclosure efforts, following the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.”
Japan Tobacco was recognized by CDP for its leadership in corporate sustainability for a fifth year in a row. The JT Group is one of 61 companies worldwide and 22 in Japan to be included on the Climate Change A-List and Water Security A-List out of more than 23,000 companies participating in the 2023 CDP environmental disclosure program. Overall, this inclusion marks the group’s sixth recognition for climate change, and fourth recognition for water security.
“We are honored that the JT Group has been recognized on CDP’s A-List for a fifth consecutive year,” said JT Group Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Hisato Imokawa, in a statement. “This inclusion reflects our continued efforts to reduce our environmental footprint and expand our transparency in disclosing information. ‘Living with the Planet’ is a key aspect of the JT Group Materiality, and we aim to achieve the sustainable relationship between nature, people and businesses through efforts to improve the impact of our activities on the environment. We are currently defining more ambitious targets for our environmental initiatives and plan to disclose them in early 2024. These targets will support our goals of contributing to the sustainable development of society by further fulfilling our responsibilities and maintaining the trust of our stakeholders.”