World Economic Forum 2020 and Designing a Smoke Free Future Through Dialogue

On 24 January 2020 Friday mid-night, I received shocking news: my wife’s brother İhsan had an unexpected heart attack. In the early Saturday morning, I headed to Bursa which is around 4 hours to my hometown İzmir by bus. Thanks to the free-wifi on the bus, I surfed a lot in order to keep calm on the way. During the journey I had the chance to read the news about the World Economic Forum and the actions and announcement my company executives made in Davos. What I mean by “my company” is Philip Morris International, the disruptive tobacco company which is delivering the smoke free future vision. Having studied international relations makes me feel interested in such global organizations. Last year, I also followed up what as going on through the news portals and twitter posts and produced a blog content:

https://volkanyorulmaz.blogspot.com/2019/01/pmi-was-at-davos-we-are-open-for.html

This year I did the same (this time blogging not in my lovely home but in the bus) on the way back from Bursa to İzmir on 26 January 2020 Sunday evening. Thanks God, İhsan is out of the intensive care unit in the hospital and he will be under doctor control for the next three days. One of the doctor’s recommendation for him was to quit smoking which is absolutely in line with PMI’s smoke-free future and unsmoke campaign. We will see if İhsan will manage his transformation or not, but I hope many people will be successful in their unsmoke transformation if Philip Morris International may find more space to conversation and dialogue. This dialogue will let the World know about the scientific evidence in favour of alternative, smoke free products. This dialogue and collaboration will be for the 1.1 billion existing cigarettes smokers who would otherwise continue smoking, and there has to be a sensible plan for these people. Let’s see what I have noticed and highlighted from the dialogues in Davos.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting took place in Davos between 21 and 24 January 2020. This year’s organization brought together 3,000 participants from around the world, and aimed to give concrete meaning to “stakeholder capitalism”, assist governments and international institutions in tracking progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, and facilitate discussions on technology and trade governance.

As sustainable development is one of the key topics of the meeting, the 2020 Annual Meeting is among the most sustainable international summits ever held. Awarded the IS0 20121 standard for sustainable events in 2018, the Annual Meeting is fully carbon neutral through reducing, calculating and offsetting event-related emissions. According to the official website of World Economic Forum, initiatives are put in place to achieve this goal include using locally-sourced food suppliers, introducing alternative sources of protein to reduce meat consumption, sourcing 100% renewable electricity, and reducing or eliminating the use of materials that cannot easily be recycled or re-used, such as carpets and introducing more electric vehicles.

We need to bear in mind that the WEF is a unique occasion that brings together key stakeholders such as politicians, companies, business leaders, and media from all over the world. Alongside the 3,000 delegates who are invited to the conference, the WEF also attracts companies and organizations like Philip Morris International (PMI) who want to be part of the global conversation in Davos. By the way, Davos is not only a town in Switzerland but also a word that has become synonymous on the world’s stage with leadership. So, the leader of tobacco products PMI was present in Davos to showcase its science, reinforce their commitment to transformation and transparency, and invite scrutiny.

The WEF have set a goal for companies to become Carbon Neutral by 2050. PMI targets to achieve it by 2030. PMI’s Chief Operating Officer Jacek Olczak reminded the world PMI’s entire manufacturing footprint will be carbon neutral which is 20 years ahead of the objective which Davos has objective for this year that companies should commit by 2050.

Jacek Olczak also shared a written content on pmi.com and stated that “in business “big” has often been linked with “bad.” However, there are vital areas of human progression that call on the small-scale, artisanal approach to combine with the benefits of “big” to make the greatest difference.” This is a sign that big and small businesses can solve big challenges together. Then he clearly highlighted that PMI is a big company with a big plan for a better future. PMI wants to help unsmoke the world – by complementing existing efforts to prevent initiation and encouraging smokers to quit. To achieve its ambition, PMI has invested billions of dollars in becoming a more science- and technology-driven organization so it can deliver better alternatives to those adults who would otherwise continue smoking. In my opinion, people calling and referring “big tobacco” with a bad, nasty motivation. This is clearly seen especially in the posted tweets in twitter but PMI, as a big company has a big plan for a better future which needs to be appreciated and supported by big and small stakeholders.

Marian Salzman, PMI’s Senior Vice President of Global Communications, also talked about the “big” adjective and told that if big in terms of big business does not jump in to solve the problems of giving people better choices, better choices will not exist. She believes that the best way to unsmoke the planet is to have the power of big tobacco, big Philip Morris is behind it, so PMI can actually have the resources to fight for change.

PMI’s Global Head of People & Culture Charles Bendotti talked about “the role culture plays in transforming a business” in Davos. He points out that PMI wants to achieve a real dialogue – all of us sit around the table, discuss about different views and find a common agreement. He underlines that it is not about PMI but about helping 1.1 billion smokers across the world to have a better life.

PMI’s Vice President Strategic and Scientific Communications Dr. Moira Gilchrist answered some hard questions in Davos. One of those questions was “why does PMI still spend money on advertising for combustible cigarettes in countries which allow it?” Moira Gilchrist explained that PMI launched smoke-free products a few years ago and already in 2018 %60 of PMI’s commercial spend went on smoke-free products that gives an indication of the future direction of the company. In my opinion, this trend clearly indicates that PMI will be less spending for combustible business in the near future which will create more source for unsmoking the world.

Andre Calantzopoulos, PMI’s Chief Executive Officer, came together with the participants in Davos and pointed out that regulatory mindset change is another hard part. That is why PMI names this Davos week “Unsmoke Your Mind”. When you disrupt an industry, you also disrupt the public health. It is disrupting the architype of what the industry stands for, the NGOs around, and the regulators that are not the first ones to jump on new things and regulate them. These products, because they contain an addictive substance, they must be regulated.

These were what caught in my radar while I was searching “World Economic Forum 2020 in Davos” during my bus travel from İzmir to Bursa. On the way back to home, I had the opportunity to convert my notes to this blog content and thought about PMI’s senior management’s engagement in conversations about creating a smoke-free world. Davos is the place where leaders come together to solve difficult challenges. One of these challenges is to find open and transparent dialogue about smoke-free alternatives available for adult smokers who do not quit. In conclusion, I must state that designing a smoke-free future requires collaboration through dialogue.