World No Tobacco Day: WHO urges to hold tobacco industry accountable for the environmental damage it causes

31-05-2022

Myrthe Niemeijer

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence 

On 31 May, World No Tobacco Day, the WHO released a statement warning about the environmental impact of the tobacco industry. It urged States to hold the Tobacco Industry accountable based on the “Polluter Pays” principle.

The negative effects of tobacco are severe: 8 million people lose their lives on a yearly basis. The environment is hit the hardest, however, as the tobacco industry costs yearly “600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2”, as reported by the WHO. [1] The tobacco industry is thus a large-scale polluter, amounting to ⅕ of the yearly CO2 production of commercial airlines. 

The largest tobacco producer is China, and other large producers are India, Brazil, the US and Indonesia. In China, for example, the clean-up of littered tobacco products such as cigarette filters costs around 2.6 billion USD. These costs fall on taxpayers rather than on the tobacco industry. By contrast, States such as France and Spain have implemented the “Polluter Pays” principle against the tobacco industry. Through the implementation of “extended producer responsibility legislation”, these States make the tobacco industry responsible for tobacco pollution clean-up. The WHO in its statement urged other States to do the same. 

Notes:

[1] See the full press release here: https://worldhealthorganization.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/d/FCFB5A131DFFA3022540EF23F30FEDED/CDB57FC64B7880FB23B7CB3C95A53812?alternativeLink=False 

Sources and further reading: 

World Health Organisation (WHO). (2022, May 31). Press Release - WHO Raises alarm on tobacco industry environmental impact. https://worldhealthorganization.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/d/FCFB5A131DFFA3022540EF23F30FEDED/CDB57FC64B7880FB23B7CB3C95A53812?alternativeLink=False 

United Nations Health. (2022, 31 May). Make tobacco industry accountable for environmental damage: UN health agency. United Nations News.  https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1119342