Procter & Gamble founders' descendants among protesters at company headquarters

Erin Couch, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
1
During Procter & Gamble’s annual shareholder meeting Tuesday, dozens of human rights activists and descendants from both of P&G’s founding families gathered outside the Cincinnati headquarters to protest what they say is the corporation’s failure to address unsustainable sourcing of materials from climate-critical forests in the Canadian boreal and Southeast Asia.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Descendants of Procter & Gamble's founders were among dozens of people involved in an environmental protest Tuesday outside of the company's downtown Cincinnati headquarters, according toprotest organizers.

Justine Epstein and Jules Feeney, said in an op-ed submitted to The Enquirer earlier this week they are heirs of James Gamble and William Procter, who founded the consumer giant in 1837. Protest organizers Rainforest Action Network. confirmed they and eight other family members were outside of the annual shareholders meeting to protest what they said were human rights violations, climate inaction and deforestation.

P&G said in a statement they grow two trees for every one used in their paper products.

In 2020, a letter penned by 90 descendants urged the company's board of directors to establish a plan to mitigate "human rights abuse, forced labor practices, Indigenous land theft, biodiversity loss and deforestation through its paper and palm oil supply chains," Epstein and Feeney wrote in the op-ed.

They said the company has been harming ecosystems and communities in Southeast Asia and Canada's boreal forest.

"We hoped this resounding directive from a large swath of investors and a push from the families who founded the company would result in commensurate action from the company," they wrote in the op-ed. "But two years later, we’re heading to the P&G headquarters to protest a lack of tangible changes."

Two people with Rainforest Action Network were arrested after climbing flag poles in front of the building, according to a news release from the organizations involved. Organizer Laurel Sutherlin declined to release the names of those taken into custody.

The Enquirer has made a request to Cincinnati Police Department for more information about the arrests.

Procter & Gamble said in a statement: "We value the viewpoints of all our shareholders, and regularly meet with many of them on a range of important topics including responsible sourcing. We share a common goal of keeping forests as forests for generations to come.  For every tree we use in our paper products, at least two are regrown."

"We see it as our responsibility to ensure no one has to choose between the products they use today and what they hope to preserve for tomorrow. For more information on these efforts, here’s a blog the Company shared last month click here."

This report will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: P&G heirs protest environmental impact at Cincinnati headquarters