P&G drops forest pledge, drawing ire of green groups, investors
By Jessica DiNapoli
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Global consumer products maker Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) dropped its pledge from a corporate policy to not buy wood pulp from degraded forests, a company executive disclosed to investors in a previously-unreported July 18 briefing.
The change drew the ire of several P&G investors. One of the world's major purchasers of pulp for consumer goods, the Cincinnati-based purveyor of Charmin toilet paper, Bounty paper towels and Puffs tissues, buys the wood product from suppliers in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the U.S., according to data on its website.
«In an era where companies are moving forward on climate risk,» the change marks a «step backward,» Leslie Samuelrich, the president of P&G investor Green Century Funds, told Reuters.
Green Century, with more than $1.1 billion in assets under management, counted P&G as among its largest holdings as of March 31, and led a shareholder proposal on the company's forestry practices in 2020.
P&G in May updated its Forest Commodities Policy, removing language in a previous environmental pledge, made in 2021, that said it would not permit forest degradation — that is, activities that significantly harm drinking water, animal habitats or other important elements of forests.
Its new forestry policy could put it at odds with a European Union deforestation law coming into effect in about 18 months banning certain goods linked to deforestation and forest degradation. P&G said it will comply with the upcoming requirements.
«P&G recently streamlined» its policies for forestry commodities like pulp after the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization «acknowledged that a widely applied definition of forest degradation is unavailable,» said
Read more on investing.com
