“Two-thirds of Procter & Gamble’s shareholders this week defied the company’s own recommendations, upping the pressure on the consumer-goods giant to reduce sourcing virgin timber for its Charmin toilet paper, Puffs tissues, Bounty paper towels and more.
Some 67% of shareholders voted yes on Green Century Equity Fund’s shareholder proposal, which read “shareholders request P&G issue a report assessing if and how it could increase the scale, pace, and rigor of its efforts to eliminate deforestation and the degradation of intact forests in its supply chains.”
Such a high percentage is considered a major turnout for an environmental issue.
The vote is a clear indication, investors said, that despite repeated insistence from company executives, the world’s largest consumer goods company PG, -3.45% is not doing enough to deal with the financial threats of deforestation and forest degradation.
The vote comes amid mounting pressure from international environmental advocacy groups — including Stand.earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, Rainforest Action Network, David Suzuki Foundation and Wildlands League — for Procter & Gamble to address what critics say is destructive forest sourcing and poor labor practices in the boreal forest of Canada, which helps absorb carbon and is home to diverse wildlife. Critical attention has also been on tropical forests in Malaysia and Indonesia, where the company sources some of its palm oil and fiber.” (Read More)