Sudden and unexpected, often appearing without previous symptoms or warnings, are terms that appropriately describe the utter shock that some of us feel when we learn after a relatively non-invasive angiogram test that we have a severe artery blockage that put us at high risk of suffering a deadly heart attack or stroke if no…
A Policy Perspective on Climate Change, Health, and Health Systems
Back in 2015, in his powerful Encyclical Letter “Laudato Si” or “Praise Be to You”, Pope Francis made a powerful statement, unifying both the spiritual and scientific dimensions of life, on one of humanity’s greatest challenges in the 21st Century: environmental destruction and climate change.
A Perspective: Decoding the Tobacco Industry’s “Unsmoke the World” Claim
There exists much skepticism about the tobacco industry’s claim that it wants to “unsmoke the world”.[1] Tobacco control proponents question how much the tobacco industry’s “transition narrative” should be trusted. [2] The history of the tobacco industry provides ample evidence for skepticism, if not outright rejection. While scientific studies demonstrated the negative harms of tobacco use, the tobacco industry…
June 2022 Newsletter
On World No Tobacco Day – 31 May 2022 – we were thrilled to learn that Tobacco Free Portfolios had received a WHO Director-General Special Award for accomplishments in tobacco control. On behalf of the whole TFP team, I’m delighted to accept this award and extremely proud of the efforts of our small but mighty…
World No Tobacco Day 2022: Realizing environmental and public health co-benefits
Our meditation on World No Tobacco Day 2022 is guided by a sober observation in the World Bank Group (WBG) Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025 that the collective responses to climate change, poverty, and inequality are defining choices of our age. More so now because of the devastating combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic…
Why people should consider not investing in the tobacco industry
Dr. Bronwyn King, Founder and CEO at Tobacco Free Portfolios, and Maxime Carmignac, Managing Director Carmignac Gestion Luxembourg – UK Branch, explain what the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge is, what supporting this initiative means, and why investors should favour divestment for this sector.
The case for divestment from tobacco
Holding tobacco companies in pension portfolios has largely been to provide stable income regardless of market conditions. While these companies have always been subject to ethical concerns, the inherent sustainability risks hadn’t been properly challenged until recently.
December 2021 Newsletter
There are now 178 Signatories of the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge from 21 countries representing over US$12.2 trillion in assets under management. COP26 and Net Zero commitments have dominated the sustainable finance landscape of late. Given the profoundly negative impact of tobacco on the environment – in terms of ocean plastic, deforestation, biodiversity loss and carbon footprint (as large as…
To the COP26 Summit in Glasgow
To the COP26 Summit in Glasgow: Moving to “Tobacco-Free Finance” is Good for Public Health and the Environment Climate change is one of the greatest risks and development challenges of our time. Under the UK Presidency, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) is being held in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021,…
Philip Morris International (PMI) Offer for Vectura Group plc
The signatories of this letter encourage you to consider both the business risks and the moral conflict of the proposed takeover. Tobacco companies should not profit from treating the illnesses their products cause. In addition, we believe Vectura’s future commercial viability as a company dedicated to improving respiratory health would be seriously jeopardised should the…