Perspectives: no butts as tobacco companies clean up in Spain

Or product liability is widening

For today's Perspective, we look again at the topic of product liability. The definition of what companies are liable for is expanding. We see this in terms of scope 3 reporting, and from human rights and related legal precedent. Here the liability we look at is for post use cleaning up - a form of pollution.

As always - this is a shortened version of a longer blog that was previously published on The Sustainable Investor. You can read the full version here and see all of our other content, on our dedicated blog platform, you just need to sign in, by clicking here. The full version of all of our published Perspectives is free for now, which seems to us to be very good value for money.

What is the new news - Spain has introduced regulations that compel tobacco companies to pay for the cleaning up of cigarette butts left on the country’s streets. The rules also prohibit the use of single-use plastic cutlery and plastic straws. Cigarette manufacturers are also now required to remind consumers not to throw cigarette ends in public areas. There are no details yet on how the clean up will be carried out.

Why do we think this is important - as the transition to a more sustainable way of life picks up pace we shall gradually see more emphasis placed on understanding the full life-cycle cost of products including remediation.

The vast majority of cigarette butts are single-use plastic, contain more than 7,000 toxic chemicals and can persist in the environment for many years and release those toxic chemicals harming plant growth and wildlife. The WHO estimates that roughly 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded each year. 

More widely on this, insurers are factoring broader sustainability themes into their assessment of underwriting risk, and costs of remediation are increasingly likely to be factored in. Liability and litigation risk will likely to be a catalyst for businesses transitioning and we could see fundamental changes to business models bringing both additional costs, potentially stranded assets but also new opportunities.

Zeroing in on cigarette butts and smoking in particular, the obvious sustainability theme is health and well-being not just from the direct impacts of smoking but also from street pollution and waste and the impact that has on well-being. To read the full blog, click here.