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Dossier #1

Greenwashing

When it seems that the smoker is the only one polluting

It’s undeniable: the best way to address pollution is to treat it at the source. So, how to reduce the 24 million tons of solid waste (to mention just one of many environmental impacts) produced each year by the tobacco industry? The answer is to reduce the prevalence of smoking. However, the tobacco industry systematically resists this approach. Evidence of this can be seen in its fierce opposition to the popular initiative “Yes to protecting children and young adults from tobacco advertising”. Worse still, the industry argues smoking is a normal and socially acceptable activity, which should never be called into question. 

Pascal Diethelm
OxySuisse President
Dossier #1 - Greenwashing
Briefing paper

Briefing paper

Pocket ashtrays: for better or worse?

Environmental issues linked to tobacco are not limited to the littering of cigarette butts. They involve the entire production chain, from growing tobacco to the final consumption of tobacco products. In this way, the tobacco industry is responsible for the environmental damage caused by the products and their manufacturing. The “Lara Green” campaign, launched in 2021 by the Swiss Cigarette association (which represents the Swiss branches of British American Tobacco Switzerland, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International), attempts to give this polluting industry a ‘greener’ and more ecological image. 

Beyond this, the campaign is part of a strategy to shift responsibility from the producer to smokers, while gathering huge amounts of data on consumers for undisclosed reasons.

 

Interviews & Key figures

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