Our sustainability approach follows the direction set by our company-wide focus on products and society, including people and planet. To achieve our commitment and in line with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), the JT Group has defined measurable targets aimed at sustainable development on an ecological, economic and social level. These are in line with our company purpose ‘Creating fulfilling moments. Creating a better future.’ and are aimed at creating a better future for all. Discover our company-wide sustainability targets and the progress we are making, here.
As a company, we are aware of our great responsibility to create a more sustainable future and are determined to make a significant contribution. Our sustainability efforts focus on the most pressing challenges facing society and our planet today.
We want to offer our consumers an innovative selection of reduced-risk products that have the potential to reduce the health risks associated with smoking. At the same time, we are improving the recyclability of our products through new designs and materials, reducing the incidence of waste and supporting consumers in making more environmentally-friendly decisions. This is where a better future starts for us at JTI.
We are continually reducing the amount of plastic in the packaging of our combustible tobacco products through new solutions. This has helped us to reduce tons of plastic waste already. This development was kicked-off in Germany in 2020 with our large-format Winston make your own buck-ets. With this we were the first tobacco brand in this segment to improve the environmental impact of product packaging. Through measures in-cluding reducing the packaging material thickness, dispensing with plas-tic handles and the introduction of refill packs, we have been able to dra-matically reduce the amount of plastic and enable the reutilisation of our tobacco containers. What was at the time launched as a German pilot pro-ject was quickly adopted by other countries in which JTI operates. While we have saved many tonnes of plastic as a result of this, we are continually working to further reducing plastic and improving the recyclability of our product packaging.
One objective we have set ourselves is providing our support for a whole range of projects that contribute towards improving inclusion and creating open meeting spaces in which people – regardless of their origin, faith or sexual orientation – can participate in social life as equals.
Social and cultural projects are particularly close to our hearts – as they, on the one hand, strengthen connections among people and, on the other hand, satisfy the important fundamental needs of the communities in which we operate.
In collaboration with charitable partner organisations, we support social engagement that finds structural solutions and contributes towards the long-term stabilisation and further improvement of the quality of life with-in the regions. At the same time, we also support people who help others – locally, in the neighbourhood.
The willingness to volunteer for sustainable and socially-oriented initiatives is firmly anchored among our people. The focus of our employee volunteering activities which take place several times a year – frequently in collaboration with charitable organisations or in conjunction with long-standing partners of JTI – is on strengthening disadvantaged groups and providing support for the homeless and care for the elderly, on the inclusion of people with disabilities and on improving the integration of refugees. Our employees have been committed to these campaigns and projects for many years now with a passion for providing help and support where it is most urgently needed.
In addition to projects and charity runs with a social focus along with the ‘Wish Tree’ campaigns for Christmas, the immense commitment among our volunteers also includes environmental and ecologically-compatible clean-up campaigns along the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Very much in line with our efforts to protect nature, these anti-littering activities are target-ed at creating cleaner environments. Equally important here are the associated sensitisation of people to treat nature appropriately and to create awareness for the unfortunately widespread issue of ‘littering’.
The careless discarding and incorrect disposal of waste are a huge problem whose solution is seemingly simple. Nevertheless, ‘littering’ is a threat to our rivers, oceans and entire ecosystems. The solution here lies in the personal responsibility of each and every one of us. Simultaneously, this problem can only be addressed with the help of many people.
For a deeper look into our initiatives and the impact of our efforts, we invite you to explore our Community Investment Annual Report. The report highlights key projects and our contributions to inclusion, protecting the environment, and strengthening community resilience. Simply follow this link to access the report: Community Investment Annual Report
Global environmental issues such as the climate crisis can only be over-come by collaborating with numerous stakeholders – including business-es and political stakeholders. As a responsible company we aim to be part of the solution. Since 2019, our Group has been included in the inter-nationally-respected ‘CDP Climate A List’. CDP stands for ‘Carbon Disclo-sure Project’ and is a non-profit organisation that annually publishes the so-called ‘A List’ of the most environmentally-friendly companies. In 2022, we decided to take a further step and have set ourselves the task of achieving net-zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2050. As an interim target on this journey, we want to become carbon-neutral within our own activities by 2030. You can find more information on our global net-zero target here.
To ensure we achieve our company-wide climate targets, we are also actively investing in renewable forms of energy in Germany. A special project in this context is the Bescheid-Süd wind farm, located around 20 kilometres to the east of our Trier site. We have invested in the expansion of the wind farm in collaboration with the Stadtwerke Trier (Trier City Works) and other regional business partners. Generating around 48 million kilo-watt hours of energy per annum, it supports the sustainable provision of energy within the region – with JTI predicted to be able to cut more than 5,000 tons of carbon emissions per annum. With this, we signal our commitment to climate protection and our ties to the Trier region.
The wind farm is an important step towards achieving our net-zero targets in Germany in the long term.