Smoking is the single biggest avoidable health risk and the most significant cause of premature death in the EU. That is why the European Union has set a goal for a smoking rate of less than 5% by 2040. However, achieving that objective will require new alliances, fresh thinking, and a pragmatic, science-based approach to regulation.
Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Corporate Officer at BAT, says that the current “quit or die” approach is not working. Instead, he is urging policymakers to “follow the science” and focus on making less harmful alternatives more readily available to smokers.
“You don't tell people to stop driving to reduce road deaths - you add seatbelts, airbags and speed-limits,” Wheaton tells us. “Reducing the harm caused by smoking should be viewed through the same pragmatic lens.”
“It’s not a marketing push. It’s our manifesto for how a smokefree future can be achieved"
“Pragmatism” is a theme that Wheaton returns to frequently throughout the conversation. It is a quality that has sometimes been missing from a debate that is often characterised by opposition and misinformation. However, the BAT executive believes that the emergence of new, science-backed smokeless products offers adult smokers, who would otherwise continue to smoke, an opportunity to switch away from cigarettes. He contends this means that the interests of companies like BAT and legislators are now aligned.
Wheaton says BAT has already set a target that it will be a predominantly smokeless business by 2035, with over half of its revenue coming from reduced-harm smokeless products. Significant progress has already been made. At the end of 2024, 17.5% of BAT’s revenue came from vaping, heated and oral pouch products. Wheaton believes this is only the start.
“It's about encouraging adult smokers who choose not to quit nicotine, to switch to better alternatives,” he says. “It is tobacco harm reduction in action. That’s the ambition.”
One key challenge is that a long history of conflict between the tobacco industry and health professionals has created a level of distrust. That has led to a reluctance for some to acknowledge that there is now a clear shared agenda. Ultimately, BAT sees its transformation as creating the opportunity for a shared mission with policymakers, rather than an adversarial stance that benefits no-one.
“We want to go faster. But we can’t do it alone,” Wheaton says. “Surely there is a place for some corporate-public bipartisanship. Just because some perceive our historical business as the problem, should not preclude us from being part of the solution.”
Wheaton points out that the price of not working together will ultimately be a failure to achieve the goal Europe has set itself to be smoke-free by 2040. He argues this objective can be reached, but only if policymakers and scientists on all sides of the debate are open enough to review the wealth of science and real-world evidence which demonstrates that tobacco harm reduction strategies can deliver for public health.
“’Smoke-free’ in Europe would mean less than 5% of the population is using cigarettes,” Wheaton explains. “The current average smoking rate across European countries is 24%. It’s fallen by only 1% in the last decade - broadly since the current EU Tobacco Products Directive was enacted. So it’s not working, in line with the EU ambition.”
Some estimates suggest that at the current rate of progress, it could take until 2100 before Europe achieves the smoke-free future it aspires to. Part of the challenge, Wheaton tells us, is that more robust enforcement is key for the Directive to reach its objectives. The current Directive was passed over a decade ago. Implementing further regulations that will discourage smokers to switch to smokeless products is not the way forward, says Wheaton.
“Back then, we had zero revenue from smokeless products,” he explains. “Now it’s a core part of our business. The current Directive did in fact provide some regulatory recognition of the difference between smokeless products and cigarettes. It has allowed for an alternative to cigarettes for those who would otherwise continue to smoke.”
Wheaton believes that these distinctions should be maintained - not to loosen restrictions irresponsibly, but to further enhance an already viable framework that supports – rather than punishes - adult smokers who are looking to give up cigarettes. He points to the way that one EU Member State has succeeded where others have failed.
“Only one Member State has achieved that smoke-free benchmark - Sweden,” he says. “They’ve proven it’s possible, so the question becomes: why isn’t that best practice being replicated more widely?”
The success of Sweden in reducing smoking rates was based on embracing harm reduction as part of its tobacco control and broader public health strategies, with access to regulated alternatives for smokers wanting to quit. Wheaton cites an independent study from the organisation Smoke-Free Sweden from 2023 that calculated how aligning EU smoking rates with Sweden’s would save 3.5 million lives over the next decade.
“I think the policymakers in Europe are faced with a choice,” he says. “Do you accept the weight of evidence and have a profound impact on public health? Or do you wait?”
Making that “weight of evidence” available to inform policymakers is, BAT believes, essential if the EU is to develop effective interventions that reduce smoking-related diseases. As a result, the company launched Omni, a platform to showcase peer-reviewed science and real-world evidence supporting tobacco harm reduction.
“It’s not a marketing push. It’s our manifesto for how a smokefree future can be achieved,” Wheaton says. “If we centralise our knowledge, it becomes easier to foster meaningful, fact-based discussions. That’s the role Omni plays. It’s a public-facing platform for constructive debate.”
To date, the platform has seen over 350 million impressions, suggesting a growing appetite for evidence-based dialogue that can start to shift the conversation.
“Let’s talk about real solutions, not ideology,” Wheaton says. “Excluding stakeholders like us just slows down progress. We want to be part of the solution, not sidelined because of perceptions of the past.”
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