British American Tobacco : Focus on our Low-Carbon Transition Plan & climate targets

Our Group Head of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), Edward Butt, features in the exclusive interview with edie as part of its 'Net Zero November' campaign.

In the interview, Ed highlights our recently-launched Low-Carbon Transition Plan which sets out the details of how we will reach our climate targets and demonstrates that sustainability is at the heart of our A Better Tomorrow™ transformation strategy. Our climate targets include halving absolute emissions across our value chain by 2030, from a 2020 baseline, and to be net zero across our value chain by 2050 at the latest¹.

Ed tells edie that the publication of our Low-Carbon Transition Plan helps us to stretch ourselves and our approach to innovation in order to meet our climate targets. This is even more crucial, Ed says, as the investor community is increasingly seeking to work with companies that can show how they are decarbonising in line with climate science.

He also stresses the importance of embedding a climate action plan as part of a holistic approach to business. He says: "Whatever size your organisation is, sustainability needs to be cross-functional. You need to be working hard with your operations teams, your supply chain and with your marketing teams. Getting a plan in place, with science-based targets, helps to challenge the organisation and drive performance. I'm excited and encouraged by how we're tackling the challenge of decarbonisation at BAT."

Last month, BAT joined more than 300 leading companies in calling for action to protect biodiversity. The call to action urges global governments to make it mandatory for businesses and financial institutions to assess and disclose their dependency and impact on biodiversity, helping to safeguard the natural environment.

1. In 2021, BAT signed up to the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign, which aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. As part of this, signatory companies are asked to outline detailed plans for achieving this target, within one year of signing up. The Paris Agreement of 2015 set a framework seeking to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, which is ambitious and challenging. As such, BAT's emissions reduction plan is designed to be in line with this 1.5ºC target, and was approved as being so in July 2022, by the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative).