A lawsuit filed against Procter & Gamble (P&G) accuses the company of misleading consumers and greenwashing with deceptive claims about how it sources the wood pulp used in its Charmin paper products.
The lawsuit claims that P&G sources its pulp products from Canadian forests through harmful logging practices such as clear-cutting and burning.
The consumers involved in the lawsuit say this is “completely at odds” with Procter & Gamble’s public commitment to protecting the environment, including its “Keep Forests as Forests” campaign and the “Protect-Grow-Restore” logo found on Charmin packages.
The lawsuit also called the display of logos from the Forest Stewardship Council misleading because Procter & Gamble uses little pulp from FSC-certified forests.
P&G’s claim to regrow two trees for every one harvested is also challenged in the suit:
“As alleged in our complaint, P&G fails to disclose that its suppliers are replanting single species conifers, evenly spaced and then covering these trees with chemical herbicides to intentionally eliminate all growth other than just a handful of tree species most valuable for logging.
The company must be held accountable for its egregious environmental destruction of the largest intact forest in the world and stop hiding behind their false and misleading claims of environmental stewardship.”
~ Steve Berman, Managing Partner at Hagens Berman, the lawfirm that filed the suit.
While P&G has committed to being more transparent about operations in its supply chain, it has said that some information is withheld for competition reasons.
It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit progresses.
The case is Lowry et al. v Proctor & Gamble Co, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 25-00108 – yes, there is a misspelling in the document.
You can see the complete document here: P&G Greenwashing Suit.
