Future-Focused and Remaining a Force for Good, a Force for Growth
April, 2023
By: Erik Roberts, Senior Vice President, P&G Global Fabric & Home Care Purchasing and P&G Chemicals
With a legacy of innovation and service dating back more than 180 years, P&G Chemicals is embarking on a holistic re-platforming of our operations to better position us to deliver solutions and create value for our customers for decades to come. This exciting initiative is designed to enhance the reliability, efficiency, resiliency and sustainability of our operations globally, including at our plants in Sacramento, California and Kuantan, Malaysia.
For me, there’s never been a more exciting time to serve with Procter & Gamble. In September 2022, I was named Senior Vice President with accountability for P&G Chemicals as well as P&G’s Fabric & Home Care Purchasing organization. My career with P&G has been focused primarily in finance, working across multiple business units and touching several parts of the company over the past 25 years. I’ve spent the last decade in leadership roles in the Fabric and Home Care business, with roles also in marketing and sales. I am privileged to leverage this set of skills and experiences for P&G Chemicals to support the renewed investment in the business and our continued focus on being a Force for Good and a Force for Growth.
Our commitment to be a Force for Growth is an imperative to serve our P&G shareowners and ultimately our employees, customers and the communities we operate in around the world. P&G Chemicals’ focus on delivering high-quality oleochemical products to our customers, and internally to P&G, is rooted in our core objectives: being dependable, accountable, resilient and a provider of great overall value. This focus has enabled the success of the business and our continued investment in broad capabilities to sustain our momentum.
However, being a Force for Growth alone is not sufficient, as consumers, customers, shareholders and the communities we serve expect more. It is vital that we are also a Force for Good. P&G Chemicals is focused on being a Force for Good in numerous areas, including:
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Palm Sustainability - Our program to support palm smallholders in Johor, Malaysia, has elevated the livelihoods of farmers through increases of more than 40% in their yield and 20% in their income. More than 300 smallholder farmers are now Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified, further enhancing their livelihoods. Additionally, since 2021, P&G’s usage of palm oil, palm kernel oil and their derivatives in our brands has consisted of 100% RSPO certified materials. Our Conserve, Restore and Protect programs span from our partnership with WWF Malaysia (supporting tiger conservation) to serving as a founding member of the Rimba Collective, an initiative to conserve 500,000 hectares of land and positively touch the lives of 32,000 people in forest communities.
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Women’s Entrepreneurship – P&G is actively involved in developing women entrepreneurs across the globe, most notably in Singapore and Malaysia. In partnership with WEConnect International, P&G leaders provide coaching and consultation across various aspects of business, including marketing, finance and supply chain management. The program is in its fifth year.
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Reduction of Carbon Footprint – We continue to focus on reducing the carbon footprint from our operations, materials and energy usage in all of our sites and with our suppliers, in sync with P&G’s commitments to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040.
We see being a Force for Good and a Force for Growth as complementary commitments, not opposing ones. Without growth, we wouldn’t have the resources to invest in sustaining our business, and the overall impact of our efforts to better serve our stakeholders would be reduced. Without our initiatives to be “Good,” we wouldn’t experience growth – as consumers, employees and customers would make other choices.
At P&G Chemicals, we’re proud to continue building upon the solid foundation we’ve established and to keep moving forward as both a Force for Good and a Force for Growth. Thank you to everyone who is helping that happen!