Philip Morris and Ferrari seek to green their image

A new collaboration between Philip Morris International and Ferrari has been concluded in the field of electric energy and batteries, and aims to achieve carbon neutrality for two of their Italian plants. These investments in the "green" energy sector barely conceal the environmental damage that these two companies cause.

It is officially with a view to reducing their carbon footprint that Philip Morris International (PMI) and Ferrari ratified, on December 13, 2023, a new collaboration agreement in the field of industrial electrical energy.[1].

The project specifically concerns two Italian plants of these companies located 30 km apart, in the cities of Maranello for Ferrari and Crespellano for PMI. A first step, by September 2024, will consist of studying the long-term storage of electrical energy. The fields of production and transformation of renewable energies should then be examined. Ferrari hopes to develop its first electric car by 2025, and to achieve carbon neutrality of its plant by 2030. The assembly plant in Maranello has thus been equipped with a fuel cell currently producing 5 % of its energy. PMI has expressed interest in the process to equip its plants with it.

Half a century of collaboration between cigarette manufacturers and motor sports

The strategic partnership between PMI and Ferrari dates back to 1973. It mainly consisted of sponsorships of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, in exchange for extensive advertising exposure for Philip Morris’ flagship brand, Marlboro. The two companies have developed close ties over time, with Ferrari’s former CEO also serving as PMI’s executive chairman until December 2020. PMI has also used the luxury image associated with Ferrari on several occasions to promote its cigarette brands and position them in a premium segment.

These sponsorship actions have been banned in Europe since 2003.[2] and were supposedly ended, but had been replaced by a partnership with PMI's Mission Winnow, which was supposed to promote its smoke-free products while using Marlboro's visuals. This type of partnership was also banned in Europe, notably after Philip Morris was convicted in France in 2019. Although its end was announced in 2021, the partnership with Mission Winnow has since continued in other countries and was, for example, visible at the Australian Grand Prix in May 2022[3].

In parallel, British American Tobacco (BAT) maintained a similar partnership with McLaren for its program "A Better Tomorrow", promoting its Vuse e-cigarettes and its VELO nicotine pouches. A 2021 study by STOP, a tobacco industry watchdog, showed that Formula 1 still remains very dependent funding from the tobacco industry, to the tune of $100 million to $115 million per year (€92 million to €105 million). Formula 1 has also established itself as the most watched sport in the world by under-25s, a target that is of particular interest to cigarette companies.

A partnership resembling a greenwashing operation

This history of the relationship between the tobacco industry and motor sports sheds new light on the new collaboration between PMI and Ferrari. These two industrialists, known to be major contributors to greenhouse gases, have both declared themselves very concerned about environmental issues in recent years. However, it seems that, for both car manufacturers and cigarette companies, these declarations are only superficial intentions. Formula 1 models and luxury cars are among the vehicles that consume the most fuel. environmental damage The impacts caused by the tobacco industry are considerable in terms of deforestation, depletion of land and water resources, use of chemical inputs and discharge of toxic waste.

PMI's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to improve its image have been significant in Italy. These include cigarette butt collection actions, carried out in conjunction with tobacco retailers.[4]. PMI has also made Italy one of its main industrial bases in Europe, particularly for the production of IQOS devices, its heated tobacco device. The new collaboration with Ferrari therefore looks more like a promotion of PMI's range of electronic products (heated tobacco, electronic cigarettes), while this cigarette manufacturer still derives the vast majority of its revenue from smoked cigarettes. In the absence of being able to make its electronic products more environmentally friendly, PMI is highlighting its efforts to make its production sites more energy-efficient.

To learn more about the links between the tobacco industry and motorsports, check out our decryption.

M.F.

[1] Ferrari and Philip Morris to collaborate to cut carbon footprint of Italian plants, Reuters, published December 13, 2023, accessed December 20, 2023.

[2] Ban on cross-border tobacco advertising and sponsorship, European Commission, Public Health, accessed 21 December 2023.

[3] Smith L, Ferrari: Important to continue Mission Winnow F1 sponsorship deal, Motosport.com, published May 5, 2022, accessed December 21, 2023.

[4] The importance of preventing littering in Italy, Philip Morris International, published April 4, 2023, accessed December 20, 2023.