About the effects of tobacco on the environment and climate
Tobacco plantations occupy approximately 4,3 million hectares of agricultural land worldwide, mainly in low-income countries. China, Brazil and India account for the largest areas. In tobacco-growing countries such as Laos, Mozambique, Zambia, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Malawi, around a fifth of the population suffers from malnutrition.
Tobacco cultivation uses toxic pesticides, which, among other things, lead to the poisoning of waterways and the death of fish. The extensive use of artificial fertilizers leads to the depletion of the soil and the need to use new areas for tobacco cultivation, which contributes to deforestation. Erosion then increases because the soil is not protected from the elements. Deforestation also occurs because firewood is needed when the tobacco is dried, and to manufacture paper for packages and cigarettes.
In the areas of Africa where tobacco is grown, deforestation is ten times greater than the average for Africa. Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of the global climate impact. When forests disappear, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, which contributes to global warming. This means that forest areas become drier and forest fires become more frequent and intense, which also releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Deforestation also depletes biodiversity.
Tobacco production is extremely water-intensive. Groundwater levels are falling in areas where groundwater is used for irrigation – at the expense of growing other crops. It takes 3,7 liters of water to produce a single cigarette. Anyone who smokes a pack a day thus contributes to a waste of resources of 27 cubic meters of water per year. Every year 6250 billion cigarettes are smoked in the world, and another major environmental impact is of course the transport of all these cigarettes.
The tobacco industry is the world's 18th largest polluter of chemical waste, and also contributes to acidification through emissions of sulfur dioxide. Nicotine is also a hazardous waste. As environmental legislation is tightened in different countries, companies tend to move operations to countries with less strict regulations.
Another environmental problem that tobacco contributes to is littering. Tobacco-related litter makes up a full 80 percent of litter in Swedish cities. Every year, around one billion cigarette butts are thrown on the streets of Sweden, a waste that contains over 7000 toxic chemicals that end up on the streets, in sewers and water.
Sources
Zafeiridou M, Hopkinson NS, Voulvoulis N. Cigarette smoking: an assessment of tobacco's global environmental footprint across its entire supply chain, and policy strategies to reduce it . Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018
Niclas Malmberg. The environmental impact of the tobacco industry – a review of the research situation in 2018. Stockholm: Visir; report 2018
