BAT's Vuse becomes world's first global carbon neutral vape brand

LONDON, May 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BAT today announced that Vuse has become the first global carbon neutral vape brand.

This world-first achievement is a significant contribution to the company's ambitious climate targets, which include carbon neutrality across its own operations by 2030. In 2020 alone, BAT achieved a 30.9% reduction in emissions from its operations, contributing to a 37.4% reduction against a 2017 baseline. In March this year, BAT announced a further ambition to be carbon neutral across its value chain by 2050, representing around 90% of its total carbon footprint.

Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Marketing Officer at BAT, said: "Vuse becoming the first global carbon neutral vaping brand is a significant milestone. It is testimony to BAT's deep and longstanding commitment to being a responsible business and reducing our impact on the environment.

"We are proud that Vuse has set the ESG standard within the vaping category by becoming the first global brand to secure carbon neutral status. As a brand leader, this is the right thing to do and further demonstrates how we are building a portfolio of global brands with purpose for the future as part of our vision for A Better Tomorrow.™"

Vuse's carbon neutrality status, announced ahead of World Vape Day (30 May 2021), is part of a bigger ambition to become an environmentally sustainable vape brand with initiatives including:

• A global device and pod collection scheme - through Drop the Pod campaign, approximately 200k pods were collected since the start of the pilot in 2020
• Cutting single use plastics from packaging - Cut the Wrap has saved 100 tonnes of plastic or the equivalent of four million plastic bottles in 2020^[2]
• Transitioning from air to sea freight – through changes to the distribution chain, Vuse aims to have 80% of international shipments transported by sea by the end of 2022

Vuse's carbon neutrality has been delivered through carbon offset through reforestation projects.  This includes a project in Uruguay to plant trees across 21,298 ha, where intensive cattle grazing has eroded soil and degraded land. As well as removing carbon dioxide and delivering better soil quality and biodiversity, the project will also result in increased availability and quality of employment opportunities.

BAT is also reducing its carbon footprint by:

• Improving the energy efficiency of factories by upgrading to more efficient and lower-impact equipment.
• Increasing the use of renewable energy through renewable energy purchases and on-site energy generation.

Today's announcement by BAT coincides with the opening of the 100th Vuse Inspiration Store.  Vuse Inspiration Stores are now operating in the UK, Canada, Poland, Germany, South Africa and the USA, putting education and exploration at the forefront and allowing consumers to fully immerse themselves in BAT's new category brands and products.

BAT is committed to its purpose of building A Better Tomorrow™ by reducing the health impact of its business through providing a range of enjoyable and potentially less risky products.

BAT's sustainability efforts and commitment have received notable independent recognition. These include inclusion in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for 19 consecutive years (the only tobacco company to be listed in the prestigious World Index in 2020), a MSCI rating of BBB and CDP A List status for climate change.

On 18 May 2021 BAT announced it had been named a 2021 Climate Leader by the Financial Times in an inaugural European ranking. FT Europe Climate Leaders 2021 recognises the top 300 of more than 4,000 companies assessed across Europe that have achieved the highest reduction in core greenhouse gas emissions in relation to revenues for the period between 2014 and 2019.

Vuse's carbon neutrality has been independently validated by Vertis based on product Life Cycle Assessment data provided by an independent third party.

Notes to editors

About BAT

BAT is a leading, multi-category consumer goods business with a purpose to build A Better Tomorrow by reducing the health impact of its business through offering a greater choice of enjoyable and less risky products for adult consumers. The company continues to be clear that combustible cigarettes pose serious health risks, and the only way to avoid these risks is not to start or to quit. BAT encourages those who would otherwise continue to smoke to switch completely to scientifically-substantiated, reduced-risk alternatives*. In order to deliver this, BAT is transforming into a truly consumer-centric multi-category consumer products business. BAT employs over 53,000 people and operates in over 180 countries, with 11 million points of sale and 45 factories in 43 markets. The company's Strategic Portfolio is made up of its global cigarette brands and a growing range of reduced-risk* New Category tobacco and nicotine products and traditional non-combustible tobacco products. These include vapour, tobacco heating products, modern oral products including tobacco-free nicotine pouches, as well as traditional oral products such as snus and moist snuff. In 2020, we had 13.5 million consumers of our non-combustible products, a rise of 3 million on the year before. The BAT Group generated revenue of £25.8 billion in 2020 and profit from operations of £9.9 billion.

*Based on the weight of evidence and assuming a complete switch from cigarette smoking. These products are not risk free and are addictive. Our products as sold in the US, including Vuse, Velo, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Camel Snus, are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation and no reduced-risk claims will be made as to these products without FDA clearance.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements, including "forward-looking" statements made within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions. These include statements regarding our customer target ambition, New Categories revenue targets and our ESG targets.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors. It is believed that the expectations reflected in this release are reasonable but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. A review of the reasons why actual results and developments may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within forward-looking statements can be found by referring to the information contained under the headings "Forward-looking statements" and "Group Principal Risks " in the 2020 Annual Report and Form 20-F of British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT).

Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in BAT's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the Annual Report on Form 20-F and Current Reports on Form 6-K, which may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov and BAT's Annual Reports, which may be obtained free of charge from the British American Tobacco website www.bat.com.

Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available at the date of preparation of this release and BAT undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

^[1] Based on ePod, ePen, eTank mini, Alto devices and consumables internal sales forecast (calculated March 2021) for 12 months starting from April 2021

^[2] Plastic saving per annum was calculated from 2020 global sales volumes and the plastic bottles comparison was based on a 22.9g bottle weight, representative weight of 500ml commercially available soft drink bottles (May 2020). Results have been verified by an independent body.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1520947/BAT_Vuse.jpg  
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1520948/BAT_Vuse.jpg  
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/785820/British_American_Tobacco_Logo.jpg

SOURCE BAT (British American Tobacco)