Procter & Gamble CSO determined to keep sustainability at top of agenda amid CEO transition

Virginie Helias’ comments come as others claim shareholders have stopped pressuring C-suite over climate

Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) chief sustainability officer has said she’s fighting to ensure the firm’s incoming CEO continues to prioritise environmental and social issues. 

“My personal challenge is, how do I keep this at the top of the agenda with the next CEO?” said Virginie Helias during a panel hosted by Reuters on Tuesday.   

P&G’s current CEO, Jon Moeller, is stepping down in January, and will be replaced by chief operating officer, Shailesh Jejurikar.

Making the business case for sustainability 

When asked how companies were maintaining top-level support for sustainability amid current headwinds, Helias said the “simple answer” was to emphasise its link with innovation. 

“We have a strategy which is about developing superior innovation that is more sustainable, so the focus needs to be on innovations that deliver performance and the conservation of resources at the same time,” she told attendees. 

She pointed to P&G dishwasher tablets that have been designed for shorter cycles.

“Making sustainability part of the innovation [and] driving consumers, that’s what will make it top of the agenda,” Helias added. 

Elsewhere, chair of the executive committee of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, said this week that pressure on CEOs to pursue decarbonisation had waned because “many investors have left the table”.  

“CEOs are telling me there are many quarters since they received even one question from investors on climate or ESG,” he said. 

As well as being involved with OGCI, which is a CEO-led initiative, Otto Sverdrup is a member of the climate advisory board at Norges Bank Investment Management, one of the world’s biggest institutional investors. 

He said it was “very very important” for the finance sector to “stay the course” and keep up pressure on company management over climate change.  

CEOs – help or hindrance? 

There has been a surge in research on C-suite sentiment towards sustainability recently, with mixed conclusions. 

This month’s global CEO survey from KPMG found that two-thirds of CEOs say that they have fully embedded sustainability into their business and believe it is critical to their long-term success.   

But, in a poll of more than 400 sustainability professionals, 41% regarded a lack of C-suite support as a hindrance to progress.