Tobacco industry causing huge environmental damage, WHO warns

Tobacco produces the equivalent of one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year [File: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg]

The tobacco industry is a far greater threat than many realise as it is one of the world’s biggest polluters, from leaving mountains of waste to driving global warming, the World Health Organization has warned in a new report.

The WHO report Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet, published on Tuesday to coincide with World No Tobacco Day, outlined new findings on the extent to which the tobacco industry is harming both the environment and human health.