Recently, the descendants of Procter & Gamble’s founders made a failed attempt to remove CEO Jon Moeller and members of the board committee overseeing environmental sustainability due to concerns over the company’s management of deforestation risks. At the virtual annual meeting, shareholders voted to re-elect Moeller and the governance committee members for another year, based on preliminary results.
The descendants of P&G had previously urged shareholders to oust these executives, accusing P&G of inadequately addressing the deforestation and forest degradation risks in its supply chain. P&G, one of the largest buyers of wood pulp, recently removed a commitment from its corporate policy to avoid sourcing pulp from degraded forests—material critical to products like Charmin and Bounty. The descendants argued that P&G’s forest commodities policy is insufficient and unclear.
Attempts by the descendants to engage with P&G’s management to strengthen the company’s forest policy were reportedly ignored. Additionally, they raised concerns about how P&G plans to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulation, which bans the sale of certain products linked to deforestation. P&G has stated it will comply with the regulation’s requirements.
