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Our global operations include multiple supply chains, from agriculture to electronics and manufacturing. Across all these areas, there are human rights considerations including workers’ rights, rural poverty and the risk ofÌýchild labour, in particular, onÌýsmall family farms.

We recognise ourÌýrole to respect the human rights of all workers and farmers in our value chain, as well as members of the local communities in which we operate.

Farming Communities

Our approach to managing human rights is aligned to the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights.

We manage our impact through our due diligence and remediation programmes, underpinned by a number of policies, including those outlined in our Standards of Business Conduct (SoBC) and Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC). Our Thrive programme collects data across a number of topics, including human rights. Based on a framework covering the five 'capitals' outlined below, Thrive sets out to address challenges in farming communities.

We participate in the Sustainable Tobacco Programme (STP) to promote responsible tobacco growing practices.

We also conduct Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) and In-depth Assessments (IDAs) to identify potential issues.

Our suppliers develop remediation plans based on these findings. We support farmers to enhance their livelihoods and tackle complex issues like child and forced labour through various initiatives

Find out more:ÌýRead more about theÌý.

Working with local stakeholders to implement community-focused initiatives.

Supporting living income

We have been conducting an annual living income analysis since 2022, based on the Anker Methodology, which is considered the gold standard for estimating fair wages and incomes for agricultural workers and small-holders farmers.

In 2024, the methodology was adapted to better represent the living costs of tobacco farmers in rural areas. Our analysis was applied to 97% of farmers in our Thrive Supply Chain. The results support the creation of action plans to target key income drivers, such as reducing production costs, increasing yield, and diversifying crops. The farmers’ feedback is provided to our Leaf suppliers, who manage the action plans.

Enhancing productivity while reducing costs

In Brazil, our Global Leaf Agronomy Development (GLAD) centre designs solutions with the support of agronomic technologies. These solutions improve crop management, optimise resource use and address challenges such as climate change and soil degradation. These are now being applied in 12 countries. For example, automated curing barns, reduce fuel use by up to 30% and manual labour by 45%.

Promoting income diversification

We support crop diversification programmes which are adapted to local environmental and socio-economic realities.

To date, more than 138,272 have been trained on crop diversification. In 2024, 94% of our farmers in the Thrive Supply Chain were reported to have diversified crops.

In addition, several small-scale initiatives in different Leaf Operations are underway to identify potential crops for additional income.

Building resilient communities

We have developed a range of community initiatives on women's empowerment, rural development, and access to healthcare, clean water, and sanitation.

ÌÇÐÄ̽»¨Bangladesh’s Probaho, now in its fifteenth year, provides safe and clean drinking water to rural communities where supplies have previously been scarce or contaminated. To date, theÌýprogramme has installed 126 filtration units and provided more than 620,000 litres of water a day to over 310,000 people across 25 districts in Bangladesh.

ÌÇÐÄ̽»¨Kenya, in 2023, introduced a women development programme aligned with the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles. Both directly contracted female farmers and women in the farming community participated in the programme.Through the two phases of the programme, training was provided to more than 600 participants on women's rights, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and agriculture.

In 2024, ÌÇÐÄ̽»¨Kenya also participated inÌýtwoÌýfurther initiatives for income diversification of directly-contracted female farmers.

Supporting our farmers throughout the growing cycle

Our Field Technicians visit our directly contracted farmers once a month during the growing season. The collaboration sets out to develop the skills of the farmers in order to promote better yields and maintain standards as outlined in the diagramÌýbelow

Group Code of Human Rights in Tobacco Farming

In 2024, we introduced a new Group Code of Human Rights in Tobacco Farming, which applies to the Group's own Leaf Operations. Aligned to the UNGPs and other international standards, it consolidates existing standards as well as strengthens procedural requirements and additional guidance on topics, such as responsible contracting and management of environmental impacts. All of ÌÇÐÄ̽»¨Leaf employees in scope and directly contracted farmers have received training on the Code.

In addition, more than 417,628 of the Group’s own Leaf Operations and third-party suppliers have conducted human rights training focused on child labour and workers' rights.

In 2024, we also established our Leaf Social Centre of Excellence to advance human rights and community initiatives.

Maintaining standards through grievance mechanisms and assessments

We track access to grievance mechanisms across our Thrive Supply Chain. In 2024, 97.96% of farmers and farm labourers reported having access to at least one type of grievance mechanism channel. Of the 307 grievances raised in 2024, 100% were reported as closed by the end of the growing season.

We conduct HRIAs and in-depth assessments (IDAs) using a risk-based approach. These assessments are carried out in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) and conducted by independent human rights experts.

Since the first HRIA was conducted in 2019, we have completed HRIAs in 10 tobacco sourcing countries, engaging with over 5,239 rights-holders. The evaluation included themes, such as the potential risk of child labour, health and safety, workers' rights and farmer livelihoods.

IDAs have a wider scope and cover other social and environmental topics. By the end of 2024, 16 suppliers inÌý12 countries underwent IDAs.

We continue to take steps to address issues identified in HRIAs and IDAs, and track remediation actions, as appropriate.

Participation in the Sustainable Tobacco Programme (STP) is a contractual requirement for all our Leaf suppliers. The STP mandates an annual self-assessment covering key themes such as Human Rights.

All Leaf suppliers are expected to fully adhere to the local laws and regulations, as well as the STP's requirements. If a non-compliance is identified, we take appropriate actions, including the suspension or termination of the supply agreement.

Find out more:ÌýRead more about theÌý.

Managing child and forced labour risks

We recognise that child and forced labour are complex issues and incidents can beÌýhidden or under-reported.

Our digital platform, Farmer Sustainability Management (FSM), is used by our FieldÌýTechnicians to record data during farm visits of our directly contracted farmers.

Over 30% of the FSM criteria are related to human rights. Technicians also conductÌýunannounced visits, interviewing farmers and farm workers to check for child andÌýforced labour incidents and upload the data to FSM, which tracks any prompt actionsÌýnecessary for remediation identified.

We monitor 100% of our directly contracted farmers on child labour risk and prevention.

In 2024, 117 incidents of child labour were reported on 0.05% of farms in our Thrive Supply Chain. The majority of incidents were related to stitching and/or stringing tobacco greenÌýleaves. 100% of incidents were reported as resolved during the growing season.

In cases of recurring incidents, a farmer’s contract is not renewed for the next season. There were zero recurring incidents this year.

In addition, zero incidents of forced labour were reported in our Thrive Supply Chain

Health and Safety of our farmers

Our Group Code of Human Rights in Tobacco Farming as well as our Operational Standard for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) include more stringent requirements on the availability and management of mandatory PPE. The requirements apply to all our directly contracted farmers and their workers.

We expect third-party suppliers to also adopt similar standards.

In 2024, 98.99% of our farmers in our Thrive Supply Chain reported to have sufficient PPE for agrochemical use and 94.27% for use when harvesting.

The introduction of more stringent requirements have led to gaps, which resulted in a decline of PPE availability. Remediation actions have been implemented.

Training sessions on the correct and safe use, storage and disposal of agrochemicals and Green Tobacco Sickness prevention were attended by over 401,500 participants.

Leaf Supplier Manual – requirements for our suppliers

We set out requirements for our leaf suppliers in our Leaf Supplier Manual (LSM). This includes a requirement for suppliers to take part in the Sustainable Tobacco Programme (STP), an industry-wide initiative that helps drive standards in agricultural practices, environmental management and key social and human rights areas. You can read more about these areas and our targets in the latest LSM (2024).

Tobacco Production Standards

Standard for Organic Tobacco Production

We have a Standard for Organic Tobacco Production, which sets strict requirements for organic tobacco growing. Although we do not currently source organic tobacco outside the US, this standard would apply to any of our leaf operations and suppliers worldwide. It requires a crop to be independently certified, such as to the EU Organic standard or the US National Organic Program standard, to be classed as 'organic'. In the US, our subsidiary Reynolds American Inc. has an organic tobacco growing programme which requires growers to be inspected and certified annually by a US Department of Agriculture-accredited organisation

Agricultural crop certification

In 2021, we were the first ever tobacco company in Brazil to achieve certification by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture for 100% of our tobacco volumes. The certification involved over 15,000 contracted farmers and covered detailed standards for sustainable agriculture. This included the adoption of best practices for planting techniques, soil conservation, integrated pest management and sustainable water management. Farmers had to demonstrate adherence to social standards too, including for health and safety and human rights. The certification guarantees the full traceability of the tobacco to farm level and provides verified records of the high social and environmental standards practiced. In the US, our leaf operation has participated for a number of years in the industry’s Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) Connections Certification Programme.