British American Tobacco Regulatory News (BATS)

28 Apr 2005 12:05

British American Tobacco PLC28 April 2005 The risks of confrontation in place of co-operation Jan du Plessis, British American Tobacco's new Chairman, has challenged the NGOswho commit their resources to attacking multinational companies - often the verycompanies working hardest to address their concerns - yet refuse to engageconstructively with business for progress. Speaking at his first Annual General Meeting as the company's Chairman, he saidof such NGOs: "To those who criticise yet refuse to engage, is your insistenceon confrontation rather than co-operation really the best way to achieve yourown goals?" And he warned of the real risk that "frequent and sometimes ill-founded attackson large and committed companies will scare off those companies with limitedresources and who fear that they can only lose by embracing CSR. Yet it isoften smaller businesses, and local businesses in developing countries, thatshould focus most on raising standards." Mr du Plessis added: "Some of these criticisms seem to stem from an ideologythat big business can rarely, if ever, do any good. Yet as Kofi Annan, the UNSecretary General, said about achieving sustainable development: 'It is only bymobilising the corporate sector that we can make significant progress.' "Alienating business is not the pathway to sustainable development," he said, "and I speak as someone with a fair understanding of - and passionate interest in- the development issues facing Africa." Mr du Plessis said it is right and necessary to tackle the huge problems facingmany developing countries: poverty, lack of skills, lack of socialinfrastructure and lack of opportunity. But this "vast and complex challenge"needs constructive inputs from governments, communities, NGOs, developmentorganisations and business. He championed the real contributions of multinational businesses to localdevelopment goals. "The presence of multinationals in developing nations ishelping governments to build on all three pillars of sustainable development -economic, social and environmental. A lasting way to address poverty is bysteadily creating employment, economic security and self-sufficiency.Ultimately, only economic growth can provide the means to pay for environmentalimprovements and social progress." "It is frequently multinational companies," he added, "that introduce skills,training and international standards, for example in labour practices, reducingenvironmental impacts, improving workplace safety and providing communitysupport." His remarks came as Friends of the Earth, Action on Smoking and Health andChristian Aid - amongst the NGOs most reluctant to engage in dialogue withbusiness - criticised the Group's commitment to CSR. All three NGOs frequentlyattack multinational companies' corporate responsibility work as 'greenwash'. Mr du Plessis thanked the NGOs who do come to dialogue and work alongside Groupcompanies in projects on the ground. The key point, he said, is that fewcompanies seeking to embrace today's changing ideas of corporate responsibilitycan do so without constructive engagement, dialogue and partnerships. He added that he found it ironic that companies embracing CSR are not onlycriticised by some NGOs, but by serious business commentators who argue thatcompanies' only proper goal is the honest and legal pursuit of profit. The casehad been strongly put that business achieves far more for society by being leftto pursue enlightened commercial self interest than by attempting to embrace anyother ways of serving society. "Getting CSR right is not easy," said Mr du Plessis, "especially for businesseslike ours in controversial sectors. However, criticisms will not deter us. Ourdoor is open, including to our critics. We genuinely want to listen and findsolutions. Like any large organisation, I am sure we deserve criticism fromtime to time. We take well-founded rebukes seriously and work to put rightthings that really are wrong, and where we have a mandate to do so." "There may be some anti-business campaigners whose agenda is not served bybusiness acting responsibly," he said. "But I cannot believe that this is whatthose who really seek progress actually want." ENQUIRIES David Betteridge, Teresa La Thangue, Emily Brand British American Tobacco Press Office +44 (0) 20 7845 2888 (24 hours) Notes to editors: • British American Tobacco p.l.c. will publish its fourth Social Report inJuly. • The Group's approach to accountability and responsibility continues tobe endorsed by independent external bodies: British American Tobacco is the only tobacco business included in theDow Jones Sustainability Indices. The UK's Business in the Community has ranked the Group amongst the 'Top Companies That Count' in its most recent Corporate Responsibility Index. The United Nations Environment Programme and the SustainAbilityorganisation last year ranked the Group fourth best in the world innon-financial reporting. • British American Tobacco is the world's most international tobaccogroup. It does business in over 180 markets, employs over 90,000 people andworks with some 250,000 supplier farmers worldwide. In 2004, the Group had aglobal volume of 853 billion cigarettes and its business enabled governmentsworldwide to gather over £22 billion a year in taxes, some 15 times the Group'sprofit after tax. • Through its Business Principles, Mutual Benefit, Responsible ProductStewardship and Good Corporate Conduct, British American Tobacco is committed todefining and living by principles of corporate responsibility for acontroversial industry. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange