BAT Vietnam - Delivering a positive social impact

Rural poverty is recognised as a primary root cause for issues such as child and forced labour, as well as poor safety and environmental standards. Enhancing farmer livelihoods helps tackle such issues and strengthen our supply chain. We are committed to working to enable prosperous livelihoods for all farmers in our tobacco supply chain.

Our management approach

Our operations: Our leaf agronomy team develops innovative farming techniques and technologies, deployed to our contracted farmers by our Farmer Sustainability Management program. These include innovative technologies and hybrid tobacco seed varieties that offer greater yields and higher quality, helping boost farmers’ profits.

Our supply chain: We provide support for our contracted farmers, helping to enhance their livelihoods and food security. And our wider community programmes help to build long-term resilience in farming communities. We have also worked to help our contracted farmers operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic to secure their incomes.

Read more about our approach to farmer livelihoods at: BAT Vietnam - Annual ESG Report .

Health and safety

Health and safety risks can have serious impacts on our employees, contractors and contracted farmers. They can also interrupt Group operations if not effectively addressed. We are committed to providing a safe working environment for all our workers. Our ambition is for zero accidents Group-wide.

Our management approach

Our operations: We commit to providing a safe working environment for all our employees and contractors. Our risk-based approach to managing workplace safety enables us to focus and prioritise our efforts. We regularly deliver training to minimise and manage health and safety risks.

Our supply chain: Our operational standard for personal protective equipment (PPE) in tobacco farming requires the mandatory provision of PPE to all our contracted farmers and workers for agrochemical use and harvesting, as well as training and monitoring to ensure effectiveness. We ask our third-party tobacco suppliers to guarantee that our standards have been implemented within their own practices and operations.

Read more about our approach to health and safety at: BAT Vietnam - Annual ESG Report .

People and culture

Attracting and retaining an increasingly diverse workforce and providing a welcoming, inclusive working environment are key drivers in BAT’s transformation journey to build A Better Tomorrow™. By 2025, we aim to increase the proportion of women in management roles to 45%.

Our management approach

Our operations: Our ethos guides and empowers our behaviours across the Group. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we drive ownership and accountability, build diverse talent pipelines and create enablers, underpinned by an inclusive culture. We listen to, and learn from, our people through a range of well-established engagement channels.

Our supply chain: We support equality campaigns and events that showcase best practice and provide platforms for role models to amplify their profiles. Examples include our campaigns for International Women’s Day, and becoming signatories of our culture. Regard to benchmark, by 2021 BAT Vietnam have reached woman leadership of 39% and aiming to 45% by 2025.

Read more about our approach to people and culture at: BAT Vietnam - Annual ESG Report .

BAT Vietnam’s highlights for 2021

•  1,692 farmers in BAT Vietnam’s supply chain engaged with zero deforestation training
•  88% of farmers growing other crops for food
•  Net 0% working accidents across the group