August, 2021 Sustainability Update

P&G is committed to forest-positive responsible sourcing of palm oil from suppliers and through supply chains that protect ecosystems from conversion and deforestation and respect human, labor, and land tenure rights.

We have a 3-pillar approach that includes Responsible Sourcing, Compliance Monitoring, and Partnership & Force for Good. You can read more about our approach on the P&G site here. As part of our Compliance Monitoring pillar, we established a partnership with The Earthqualizer Foundation (EQ) in 2020. This partnership enables us to work with EQ’s Supplier Group Monitoring Program (SGMP) to proactively track our supply chain footprint and to ensure compliance with our Responsible Sourcing policies. This means that we are able to monitor landbanks for land use changes, and if proved to be noncompliant to our policy, we can then take swift action to rectify any issues.

The EQ process combines advanced satellite monitoring with in-depth plantation concession mapping knowledge. EQ experts also help us identify potential emerging issues and make interventions at an early stage. Together, we can ensure that we meet our environmental sustainability goals and that we and our partners are living up to our commitments. EQ provides the expertise and insight to monitor our supplier groups at plantation level while providing expert consultation on how to engage and tackle issues and grievances in a productive way for all stakeholders.

EQ monitors about 13 million hectares of landbank of P&G suppliers across Indonesia and Malaysia (bigger than Hong Kong), up to 462 supplier groups, 1,646 plantation units, and 1,263 mills. From May 2020 to April 2021, EQ detected potential noncompliance to our palm policy in 3,640 hectares, with 52 cases requiring further investigation. It verified concerns in 15 cases in relation to deforestation and opened investigations, which are now subject to ongoing engagement with suppliers. You can view these cases on our grievance tracker.

Please read more about the case study.