Stakeholder engagement
Actively seeking open dialogue with our stakeholders allows us to understand their expectations and respond accordingly. Continuous engagement also enables us to build a shared understanding of contingency issues, proactively respond to concerns, identify potential areas of compromise, stay abreast of global trends and market expectations, and find solutions that are good for our stakeholders and business.
While PMI’s commitment to its transformation is unwavering, we recognize that we cannot complete the journey alone. Signed by every member of our Board of Directors, PMI’s Statement of Purpose articulates our company’s purpose and transparently specifies those stakeholders most critical to long-term value creation and sustainability.
Our periodic sustainability materiality assessments provide valuable insights and allow us to gauge the relevance of various topics among key stakeholder groups.
How we are engaging with our stakeholders
Our stakeholder engagement incorporates both structured and ad hoc interactions. Above all, it is guided by transparency, integrity, and respect, and governed by our Code of Conduct and its accompanying policies (Principles and Practices), summarized in this overview of our engagement principles.
The table below features the most significant topics discussed with our key stakeholder groups and our responses to them; however, it is not an exhaustive list.
The following section features our approach and engagement with key stakeholder groups, the most significant topics discussed, and our responses to them.
Consumers
Read moreConsumers
Why we engage
The best choice a smoker can make is to quit tobacco and nicotine altogether. For adults who don’t quit smoking, we aim to ensure their full awareness of the existence of smoke-free products and of the benefits of switching to these alternatives, versus continued smoking, and support them in this conversion journey so that as many adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke as possible will switch to them and never return to cigarettes. We do this by taking a consumer-centric approach to developing scientifically-substantiated nicotine-containing products, and commercializing these better alternatives that aim to meet adult smokers’ preferences and needs.
How we engage
- PMI websites and social media accounts
- Surveys, questionnaires, and focus groups
- Hotlines and call centers
- Consumer events and awareness-raising campaigns
- Stores and e-commerce
Key topics discussed
- Access to and benefits of smoke-free products compared with continued smoking
- Scientifically substantiated claims
- Product innovation and circularity
- Quality and services
How we are responding
- Investing in R&D and strategic acquisitions to propel our smoke-free vision and meet consumer needs
- Moving from a business-to-business (B2B) to an increasingly consumer-centric model to commercialize smoke-free products and support users in their conversion journey
- Broadening access to smoke-free products for adult smokers and nicotine users by working to improve consumer awareness and product availability, affordability, and acceptability
- Embedding eco-design and circularity principles in product development and launching take-back services for our products’ end-of-life
Employees
Employees
Why we engage
Our employees are drivers of change and the ambassadors of our purpose. Their engagement and dedication are essential to making PMI’s vision and strategic goals a reality. We continuously communicate with and listen to our employees and strive to provide them with opportunities for growth and development within an inclusive workplace.
How we engage
- Regular surveys
- Group-wide intranet and other internal platforms
- Performance and development reviews
- Internal events and conferences
- Training programs
- Recognition schemes
- Employee resource groups
Key topics discussed
- Company culture and purpose
- Diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion
- Health, safety, and well-being (including work–life balance)
- Job security, talent attraction, lifelong learning opportunities, retention
- Protection of employee data
How we are responding
- Consistently and clearly embedding our purpose across our company culture
- Promoting living wages, equal pay for equal work, and equal access to opportunities
- Providing flexible work, paid parental leave, and volunteer time
- Raising awareness around mental health and supporting employee well-being via a variety of programs and initiatives
- Upholding workplace health and safety
- Fostering an equitable and inclusive environment that unlocks the potential of diversity among our workforce
- Promoting global employee resource groups on a variety of diversity dimensions
- Expanding employee access to lifelong learning programs to promote upskilling and reskilling
Supply chain and business partners
Read moreSupply chain and business partners
Why we engage
Many of the people working in our supply chain rely on PMI for a substantial portion of their income. PMI aims to treat its suppliers fairly and ethically and is dedicated to acting as a good partner to other companies, large and small, that help us achieve our ambitions. Collaborating with others across our supply chain helps us address social and environmental challenges and progress against our strategic goals.
How we engage
- Compliance, audits, and risk assessments
- Strategic partnerships
- Supplier forums and events
- Meetings, workshops, and training sessions
- On-site visits
- Digital retailer interfaces
Key topics discussed
How we are responding
- Grounding supply chain strategy in our Responsible Sourcing Principles
- Transitioning to an increasingly diversified supply chain
- Promoting safe and fair working conditions throughout our supply chain
- Seeking science-based reduction of our scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and collaborating with our suppliers to address other environmental challenges, in particular biodiversity loss, deforestation risk, and water depletion
- Assessing, monitoring, and helping improve the sustainability performance of our critical suppliers
Finance community
Read moreFinance community
Why we engage
Engaging with the finance community is key to promoting a comprehensive understanding of PMI’s unique value proposition, strategy, and performance. Furthermore, investment decisions increasingly integrate sustainability considerations, and we are confident that our transformation is creating value for PMI and for society
How we engage
- Annual shareholder meeting
- Events, conferences, and roadshows
- Earnings calls, Investor Day, and sustainability-related webcasts
- Presentations, reports, and publications
- ESG ratings and rankings
- Financing instruments
- Perception studies
- Investor outreach and engagement
Key topics discussed
- Future-proofed business model
- Growth and returns from smoke-free transformation
- Regulatory and fiscal environment
- Governance and remuneration
- Capital allocation
- Sustainability-related priorities, risks, and performance
- Technological advancements to drive product innovation, commercialization, and operational efficiency
- Quality of reporting on sustainability and business transformation
How we are responding
- Continuing to grow our smoke-free business while staying competitive in the cigarette category during our transition
- Periodically refreshing our sustainability materiality assessment
- Reporting progress via our Integrated Report and Business Transformation Metrics
- Linking executive compensation to sustainability performance, including via our Sustainability Index
- Integrating our smoke-free transformation into our financing strategy
- Supporting PMI’s smoke-free and wellness and healthcare ambitions via disciplined investments
Regulators
Regulators
Why we engage
Dialogue with national and local governments and regulators allows us to understand their priorities and concerns and share our views, objectives, and scientific findings. We engage with policymakers in developing proposed regulations that may impact a smoke-free future and differentiate smoke-free products from combustible products. We advocate for regulation that would accelerate the end of smoking, foster innovation, and minimize unintended consequences.
How we engage
- Ongoing dialogue
- Forums and events
- Public consultations
- Reports and publications
- Trade associations
- Training and presentations
Key topics discussed
- Risk-proportionate regulatory and fiscal framework for smoke-free products
- Responsible marketing and commercialization, including youth access prevention
- Illicit trade prevention
- Environmental and social welfare
- Fiscal and regulatory compliance
- Standards for transparency and quality reporting
How we are responding
- Transparently publishing our scientific findings on smoke-free products PMIscience.com
- Deploying youth access prevention safeguards across retail channels
- Implementing and monitoring compliance with internal codes and standards ensuring responsible marketing practices, especially PMI’s Code of Conduct
- Preventing illicit trade via tracking and tracing processes and technologies and funding PMI IMPACT
- Improving the sophistication and standardization of our sustainability reporting
Public health community
Public health community
Why we engage
Engaging with the public health community is of utmost importance. Our business transformation and expanded purpose present an immense opportunity to advance public health. By conducting our R&D with scientific rigor, sharing our findings, and asking the community to scrutinize our products and the growing body of scientific evidence surrounding them, we aim to engage constructively on this topic and collectively seize the immense opportunity smoke-free products present for adult smokers. By leveraging our expertise and investment in aerosol chemistry and physics, device technology, clinical research, and best-in-class preclinical safety and inhalation models, we aim to move from a value proposition of doing less harm toward one where we can seek to have a net positive impact on society in the longer term.
How we engage
- Conferences, forums, and events
- Reports, publications, articles, white papers, and studies
- Dedicated scientific website PMIscience.com
- Online platforms for data transparency and reproducibility in science
- Applications and submissions
Key topics discussed
- Product innovation to reduce health impacts at individual and population levels
- Scientific research, including scientific methods and protocols, data and results
- Business transformation strategy and progress in phasing out cigarettes
- Youth access prevention
- Research transparency and data
- Product environmental impact
How we are responding
- Developing science-based, less harmful alternatives to continued smoking and expanding our smoke-free product portfolio
- Investing in smoke-free product innovation R&D
- Publishing findings and other scientific publications on PMIscience.com
- Acquiring like-minded, science-driven companies to lay the foundation for a broader lifestyle, consumer wellness, and healthcare business
- Initiating studies such as real-world evidence studies analyzing the impact at the population level of the introduction of smoke-free products
Civil society
Read moreCivil society
Why we engage
From exchanging information and best practices to forging close partnerships, engaging with civil society actors helps inform our strategy, define our priorities, and advance sustainable solutions to common challenges.
How we engage
- Partnerships and memberships
- Social contributions
- Open dialogue
- Independent academic case studies
- Media interviews, opinion pieces, social media, and articles
Key topics discussed
- Sustainability performance
- Sustainability strategy and reporting
- Business transformation
- Product innovation
How we are responding
- Partnering with leading civic organizations to improve our sustainability performance and implement impactful solutions
- Joining leading corporate sustainability membership organizations
- Sharing data and progress with academic organizations, enabling them to write case studies analyzing our progress, challenges, and opportunities
- Leveraging a range of media channels to promote open dialogue and discussions about business impacts and corporate strategy
- Transparently disclosing our sustainability performance, sustainability materiality assessments, progress, challenges, opportunities, and aspirations
Memberships and alliances
We believe that participating in collective efforts can help foster meaningful impact as we work to address sustainability-related challenges that are often systemic. As such, we participate in various selected groups, organizations, or initiatives globally including, among others, those listed below.
Advocacy
Please click on the tabs below for an overview of various sustainability-related advocacy efforts we engaged in over the past several years.