600,000,000

Trees chopped down to make cigarettes

84,000,000

Tons of CO2 Emissions released into the air raising global temperatures

22,000,000,000

Liters of water used to make cigarettes

The harmful impact of the tobacco industry on the environment is vast and growing adding unnecessary pressure to our planet’s already scarce resources and fragile ecosystems.

Tobacco kills over 8 million people every year and destroys our environment, further harming human health, through the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and post consumer waste.

World No Tobacco Day - Key messages

Tobacco harms the environment

Tobacco growing, manufacturing and use poison our water, soil, beaches and city streets with chemicals, toxic waste, cigarette butts, including microplastics, and e-cigarette waste. Don’t fall for the tobacco industry’s attempt to try and distract from its environmental harms by greenwashing their products through donations to sustainability initiatives and reporting on environmental “standards” they often set themselves.

Make the tobacco industry clean up their mess

The tobacco industry is making profit by destroying the environment and needs to be held accountable for the environmental destruction and made to pay for the waste and damages, including to recover the cost of collecting these wastes.

Quit tobacco to save our planet

Tobacco smoke contributes to higher air pollution levels and contains three kinds of greenhouse gases.

Help tobacco farmers switch to sustainable crops

Governments and policy makers should support tobacco farmers to switch to alternative, more sustainable livelihoods to reduce the environmental impact of tobacco growing, curing and manufacturing while continue to implement tobacco control measures.

CAMPAIGN CALLS TO ACTION

General Public

Give tobacco users an extra reason to quit. Quitting tobacco benefits your health and the environment.
Support policy action around ban on single use plastics which include cigarette butts, smokeless tobacco pouches and electronic waste
Raise awareness of the tobacco industry’s greenwashing tactics
Support governments on additional levies/taxes on industry to protect the environment

Youth and Future Generations

Advocate for 100% tobacco free schools to protect children and youth from exposure to direct, second-hand and third-hand smoke
Start or join a movement to protect the environment. Raise awareness about the environmental impact of tobacco and sensitize the public, in particular the youth
Support the reduction of chemicals, including the carbon footprint to protect the younger generation for the ill effects of environmental tobacco waste
Reduce the number of tobacco retail stores

Ministries and Policymakers

Impose the EPR policy principle on the tobacco industry to hold them accountable for the cost of cleaning up TPW
Impose an environmental tax levy on the tobacco manufacturers, distributors and the consumer, across the supply chain for carbon emissions, air pollution and other environmental costs.
Implement tobacco control (MPOWER measures) to minimize the environmental impact of tobacco
Support tobacco farmers to switch to alternative, sustainable livelihoods, in line with Art 17 and 18 of WHO FCTC
Advise governments on how to leverage the COP of International Climate in Cairo in November 2022 to collaborate and advance the tobacco control agenda in line with World No Tobacco Day

NGOs and Civil Society

Raise awareness of the environmental impact of tobacco across the life cycle from cultivation, production, distribution, use and waste
Showcase the tobacco waste problem in public spaces and communities
Raise awareness of the benefits of switching to different crops and how it is linked to tobacco control more broadly
Advocate for national bans on single use plastics
Expose tobacco industry tactics and efforts to “greenwash” its reputation and products by marketing themselves as environmentally friendly

Tobacco Farmers

Switch to sustainable and environmentally friendly crops providing a greater return on investment in terms of health and wealth

Academia and Intergovernmental Organizations including UN Agencies and Development Banks

Collect data on water use, deforestation, and the lethal and environmentally degrading chemicals in tobacco products and the environmental harm of these components on soil, drinking water, human and animal health
Estimate the total impact of tobacco product waste as well as the total environmental impact of one tobacco product
Raise awareness of projects in tobacco growing countries, for example in Kenya where hundreds of farmers successfully switched to alternative crops, as well as deforestation and climate change projects in East Africa
Raise awareness of the linkages between environmental impact of tobacco and health outcomes, linking it to adverse development outcomes
Remind stakeholders that accelerated implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is an SDG 3A target

Click on the following button to learn more about the impact of tobacco on your environment

Q & A

World No Tobacco Day - Events 2022

WEBINAR: Talking Trash - 12 May 2022

Behind the tobacco industry’s “green” public relations.

WEBINAR: A Smoke-Free Caribbean - 30 May 2022

A win/win for health and the environment.

Check the agenda and other details here

Regional Webinar: Tobacco, a threat to our planet - 1 June 2022

Tobacco, a threat to our planet

WEBINAR: Fighting Tobacco Product Waste - 2 June 2022

Holding the tobacco industry accountable for its environmental footprint

World No Tobacco Day News

Initiatives from El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States of America recognized with World No Tobacco Day Awards

Washington D.C. May 27 2022 (PAHO) – A tobacco control advocate in El Salvador, Violeta de Palomo, the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and a researcher and academic from the United States of America, Thomas Novotny, received the 2022 World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Awards.

The winners, selected by the World Health Organization (WHO) from global nominations in response to a public call, have been recognized for their efforts to ensure progress towards tobacco control in their countries.

WHO raises alarm on tobacco industry environmental impact2

Geneva, Switzerland, May 31, 2022 (WHO) — WHO has today revealed new information on the extent to which tobacco damages both the environment and human health, calling for steps to make the industry more accountable for the destruction it is causing.

Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million human lives, 600 million trees, 200 000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2.

The majority of tobacco is grown in low-and-middle-income countries, where water and farmland are often desperately needed to produce food for the region. Instead, they are being used to grow deadly tobacco plants, while more and more land is being cleared of forests.

The WHO report “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet” highlights that the industry’s carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming.

Mexico receives the Special Award from the WHO Director-General

Mexico City, Mexico. May 31, 2022 – Mexico received today in the figure of the President of the Republic, Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Special Recognition Award on World No Tobacco Day granted by the Director General of the WHO , Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The award recognizes his leadership and unwavering support to strengthen tobacco control measures in the country, highlighting the support for the amendment to the General Law for Tobacco Control, the enactment of a presidential decree that prohibits the importation of new and emerging tobacco products, and the publication of a new Law on General Import and Export Taxes.

PUBLICATIONS

Tobacco and its environmental impact: an overview

This overview assembles existing evidence on the ways in which tobacco affects human well-being from an environmental perspective – i.e. the indirect social and economic damage caused by the cultivation, production, distribution, consumption, and waste generated by tobacco products.

Brief: Talking Trash: Behind the Tobacco Industry’s “Green” Public Relations

STOP partnered with the WHO and the FCTC Secretariat to expose greenwashing, the disinformation tactic used by organizations to present an environmentally responsible image.

Infographic: Dirty Secrets- How Big Tobacco Destroys the Environment & Hides it

Brochure: World No Tobacco Day 2022

Quit tobacco today!

Why should you quit smoking and how can you do it? +

Smokers have a higher risk of getting coronavirus because they are constantly putting their hands to their lips.

And then, if they get coronavirus, they run a greater risk of getting a severe case because their lung function is impaired.

Quit today to reduce these risks and start living a healthier life.

Quick tips to curb your cravings:

Delay: Delay as long as you can before giving in to your urge.
Deep breathing: Take 10 deep breaths to relax yourself from within until the urge passes.
Drink water: Drinking water is a healthy alternative to sticking a cigarette in your mouth.
Do something else to distract yourself: Take a shower, read, go for a walk, listen to music!

There are many resources within your own community. Find out if your healthcare providers, Quit line Counsellors, mCessation programmes are available to support you in your journey to quit.

Q&A Smoking and COVID-19

How to quit tobacco smoking? +

This self-help material was developed based on WHO Capacity Building Training Package 4 entitled “Strengthening health systems for treating tobacco dependence in primary care”. Its target audience are tobacco users. It aims to give advice and information to improve tobacco user’ readiness to quit and to help those who are ready to quit to plan a quit attempt. The content of this self-help material includes: