Environmental protesters target P&G CEO's $2.8M house in Covington Tuesday

Environmental protesters want Procter & Gamble CEO Jon Moeller to know they're really upset with his company's forestry and other policies. On Tuesday morning, they plan to park a mobile billboard outside his $2.8 million home in Covington to remind him.

"This action is part of global corporate accountability organization Ekō's ongoing efforts to push the consumer goods giant to clean up its supply chain," said the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, which added the mobile billboard will move to P&G's downtown Cincinnati headquarters.

As highlighted by a protest last week on an Ohio River bridge, politics are threatening to invade P&G as it prepares for its annual meeting of shareholders Tuesday.

While the virtual meeting broadcast over the internet will review the Cincinnati-based company’s annual performance and conduct other routine business, conservative and progressive investors are asking shareholders to shake things up. Here are four measures – opposed by the company – being put to (mostly non-binding) votes for shareholders by activist investors:

Board challenge over forest destruction

P&G’s 14-member board has been nominated to serve a one-year term in an uncontested election. But descendants of founders William Procter and James Gamble are urging shareholders to vote against four board members – including CEO Jon Moeller – to protest its “unsustainable sourcing of pulp from the boreal forest in Canada.”

“We take pride in Procter & Gamble’s history of being a socially progressive leader,” wrote nine descendants, who expressed disappointment with the company’s “procurement of forest commodities.”

Environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth say they support the recommendation.

Last week, some of the same protesters were arrested Wednesday morning after hanging a banner off the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge calling out the consumer products giant for its impact on the world's forests. Four protesters were arrested Wednesday.

They urged shareholders to oppose the reelection of Moeller as well as lead director Joe Jimenez; Angela Braly, the chair of Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee; and Patricia Woertz, the longest-serving P&G director.

P&G defended its forestry record, saying “environmental sustainability, which includes our responsible forestry sourcing practices, remains an important aspect of the company’s superiority strategy.”

Specifically, P&G says it regrows two trees for each tree used in paper products and has worked with different environmental groups, including nonprofits such as the Forest Stewardship Council for certifying their materials. P&G said it also earned A- and B scores in 2022 for their sourcing of wood pulp and palm oil, respectively, from the Carbon Disclosure Project.

‘The people left out … are straight white civilian men’

Conservative Washington, D.C., think tank and shareholder The National Center for Public Policy Research wants P&G to commission a report to “assess the impact of the company’s policies on non-BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) and non-Latinx/a/o/e communities (white people).”

The group charges P&G has conducted its business “treating people according to labels of race, sex and orientation.” The group blasted its supplier diversity program, which seeks to enlist businesses owned by women, minorities, veterans and others.

“Here and elsewhere, P&G proudly discriminates by race, sex and orientation in choosing and funding suppliers. The people left out – those discriminated against – are straight white civilian men,” the group said, adding the company was risking its reputation and legal consequences. “Despite racist claims about the privileges and evils obtaining to whiteness, the suffering of these communities matters as much as other community suffering.”

P&G disagrees with the proposal. The company said its inclusion efforts don’t “lead to exclusion” of non-minority groups.

How much does P&G depend on communist China?

The conservative Falls Church, Virginia, nonprofit The National Legal and Policy Center wants P&G to begin publishing annual reports on its dependence on Communist China and assessing the risks associated with it.

“Given the controversial, if not dangerous, nature of doing business in and with China, shareholders have the right to know the extent to which Procter & Gamble’s operations depend on Communist China,” the group said, citing various news reports and government statements regarding China’s human rights violations and tensions with the U.S.

P&G said it already discloses the scope of its business operations and the associated risks in its government filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s annual report to shareholders discloses the company does $7.4 billion in sales ‒ 9% of the company’s total revenue ‒ in Greater China (which includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau).

The same report has a whole section dedicated to “risk factors,” where P&G discloses: there are risks to “having significant operations and sales in international markets,” that “uncertain economic or social conditions may adversely impact demand” and “changing political and geopolitical conditions could adversely impact our business.”

The company added it has policies to “identify, mitigate, and address human rights impacts that may occur in our global operations” and added it expects its business partners to follow the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Measure to ensure fair elections

California shareholders James McRitchie and Myra K. Young want to block P&G from demanding additional disclosure from investors making nominations for board members.

Specifically, they don’t want the company to change bylaws to demand all the identities of an investment group’s holders or partners with less than 5% stakes; or disclosure of plans to nominate board candidates to other companies; or require past nominations or shareholder proposals submitted to other companies. If P&G plans to amend its bylaws to take any of these actions, the proposal asks the company put it to a vote of shareholders.

“Directors should not amend bylaws to inequitably restrict shareholders’ right to nominate directors,” the shareholders said.

P&G said the measure is unnecessary and “seeks to solve a problem that does not exist.”

“P&G strongly values shareholder participation in our Company, and we want to facilitate such participation,” the company said.

Watch the voting at the annual meeting:

Procter & Gamble's annual meeting is virtual and will be held at 12 noon on Tuesday. Shareholders of record will be able to vote and ask questions online during the meeting.

For the latest on P&G, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank and Cincinnati business, follow @alexcoolidge on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What's happening at the P&G annual meeting?