Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International is a global tobacco and nicotine company that manufactures products, sources agricultural materials, and offers smoke-free options in many markets. Most of its water use happens in supply chains and factories, especially in tobacco-growing regions and during the production of heated tobacco units. Managing water use is important for running operations efficiently and reducing risks in the supply chain.

Philip Morris International's main water sustainability efforts include helping farmers get better access to water, mapping agricultural risks, and improving water use in factories. In 2025, 99.9% of contracted farmers supplying tobacco to PMI in certain markets had access to basic drinking water, up from 95% in 2024. This progress was made by adding water points, household purification systems, boreholes, spring protection, and home water systems in key markets such as Argentina, Malawi, and Mozambique. The last 0.1%, or about 200 farmers in Malawi, could not be monitored in time.

PMI has increased water risk assessments in its tobacco-growing regions. Since 2018, the company has completed 61 local water risk assessments, covering all its tobacco-growing areas. In 2025, these assessments included Brazil, Italy, Spain, and three regions in Thailand. PMI reported that tobacco-growing areas used about 124 million cubic meters of freshwater for irrigation, showing that most of its water use is in agriculture rather than factories.

In its factories, PMI reduced water use to 2.1 cubic meters per million cigarettes in 2025, down from 2.3 in 2024 and 2.4 in 2023. In 2025, factories used 3.07 million cubic meters of water, compared to 3.21 million in 2024. Since 2018, PMI has lowered manufacturing water use by 34%, even though making heated tobacco units uses about five times more water than making cigarettes. At its Italian factory, wastewater is treated and reused in boilers and cooling towers. In 2025, this site also collected and reused 7,000 cubic meters of rainwater, which was 3% of its total water use. PMI certified all its main manufacturing sites to the Alliance for Water Stewardship standard. This certification does not include lower-risk sites or those that use less than 2.5% of PMI's total manufacturing water.

The main challenge is that most of PMI's water use still happens in its supply chain. Manufacturing accounts for only 1% of PMI's freshwater use, while non-tobacco materials make up 66% and tobacco farming 33%. PMI provides more detailed data than many competitors, but its overall water risk remains closely tied to irrigation needs, high-risk growing regions, and the rising water use from producing heated tobacco units.