PMI Ranks Top 5 in HACE’s Corporate Child Labour Benchmark
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Philip Morris International (PMI)’s approach to combating Child Labour has earned it a place among the top five performers in HACE’s 2025 Corporate Child Labour Benchmark. This recognition highlights PMI's robust and continuous commitment to governance excellence in addressing Child Labour within high-risk supply chains.
"Philip Morris International is honored to be recognized among the top five in HACE’s benchmark for governance excellence of child labor in high-risk supply chains,” said Anna Kletsidou, Director of Social Sustainability & Due Diligence. “This achievement builds on more than a decade of implementing our Agricultural Labor Practices program, through which we have addressed systemic child labor in our tobacco supply chain and created a foundation for lasting improvements in the lives of farming communities.”
A Comprehensive and Integrated Strategy
HACE are global specialists in Child Labour, and our data-driven Benchmark identifies and acknowledges the highest-performing public companies operating in supply chains at risk of Child Labour. PMI's approach goes beyond standard compliance, with a focus on comprehensive, on-the-ground action:
Monitoring: PMI's Agricultural Labor Practices (ALP) program, running for over a decade, features intensive, farm-based monitoring of over 350,000 farmers, supported by child-specific data collection and external verification in identified high-risk markets to ensure reproducible results.
Root Causes: PMI is committed to addressing the fundamental drivers of Child Labour. A key initiative is their Living Income Programme, which aims to ensure all farmers contracted by PMI make at least a living income by 2025.
Executive Accountability: PMI's dedication is reinforced by tying sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including eradicating systemic Child Labour in their tobacco supply chain, to executive compensation.
Looking Ahead: Continuous Improvement and Strategic Goals
The tobacco PMI sources is often grown on smallholder farms in many low- and middle-income countries, and working to improve farmers' livelihoods mitigates risks like Child Labour.
PMI maintains a relentless focus on preventing incidents of Child Labour. While they are confident that Child Labour as a systemic issue in their tobacco supply chain has largely been addressed, their objective remains to eradicate, by 2025, any isolated Child Labour cases that might persist. PMI will continue to take immediate action whenever incidents are identified, ensuring that remediation is carried out in the best interests of the child.
By expanding PMI's Child Labour strategy into new sourcing markets and other supply chains and actively engaging in global collaboration, they are dedicated to translating their commitment into measurable, positive change for farming communities and children worldwide. To further enhance PMI's strategy and drive sector-wide change, HACE is proud to announce PMI’s plan to join the HACE Child Labour Network. This action-oriented forum is focused on making real progress, establishing best practice, and proactively informing the future of Child Labour governance alongside other industry leaders, investors, and experts.