In this Insurance Institute of London (IIL) financial services webinar, Dr Rachel Melsom will talk about the negative financial, social, environmental and health impacts of tobacco, the rationale and various lenses, including. environmental, social and governance (ESG), through which to review investment in tobacco, and propose a framework for review.

Tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable death globally. We are on track for one billion deaths this century.

The negative financial, social, environmental and health impact of tobacco is increasingly recognised by the finance sector, and tobacco’s inclusion as an investment is increasingly under review as the importance of ESG factors becomes clear.

Dr Melsom’s webinar will include a framework to enable review and clear examples of the impact of regulation, litigation, consumer pressure and global impact on share price performance and company behaviour. It will debunk the sustainability myth the tobacco companies are keen to promote and focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. She will include examples of leading organisations in the finance sector – across insurance, asset management, pension funds and banks – who have moved to tobacco-free finance.

By the end of this webinar members would have gained an insight into:

• The increasing financial risk associated with ongoing investment in tobacco companies
• Incorporating ESG – and the negative impact tobacco has on achieving 14 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals
• A framework to initiate a review of investment