Charmin Toilet Paper Class Action Alleges Procter & Gamble’s Sustainability Campaign Is Greenwashing

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) environmental sustainability campaign for Charmin toilet paper is nothing more than greenwashing.

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The 112-page lawsuit alleges that P&G’s sourcing methods for the wood pulp used in Charmin toilet paper do not align with the company’s purported commitment to responsible forest management practices and effective replanting efforts in its supply chain.

In reality, the case claims, P&G sources its pulp using environmentally devastating logging practices. This includes the clear-cutting and burning of Canada’s old-growth boreal forest while doing little to restore it to its original level of biodiversity, the complaint contends.

The suit charges that as part of its greenwashing scheme, P&G includes a “Protect-Grow-Restore” logo on Charmin toilet paper packages to disseminate three misleading sustainability promises to consumers. For its “Protect” promise, Charmin claims to use only pulp certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international non-profit whose certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests, the case relays.

“[T]his claim is objectively false,” the lawsuit says, alleging that the defendant deceptively uses the FSC logo on its Charmin packaging even though only a small fraction of P&G’s pulp is sourced from FSC-certified forests. Similarly, P&G erroneously markets its products alongside the “Rainforest Alliance Certified” seal—a certification program that was discontinued years ago and does not operate in Canada’s boreal forest, the complaint asserts.

As the suit tells it, the defendant’s “Grow” promise involves replanting at least two trees for every tree used in its products, and its “Restore” promise represents a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant one million trees in forests affected by natural disasters.

Per the filing, these commitments misleadingly suggest that Charmin suppliers are replanting the specific boreal forest areas logged to replicate the highly biodiverse, intact ecosystems that existed before harvesting occurred.

“But P&G fails to disclose that, in reality, its suppliers are replanting single species conifers, evenly spaced, and then cover [sic] these trees with chemical herbicides to intentionally eliminate all growth other than just a handful of tree species most valuable for logging,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit stresses that these so-called “Frankenforests” destroy biodiversity and can jeopardize the health of the forest.

The case accuses the consumer goods giant of exaggerating its eco-friendly initiatives to trick a growing number of customers who consider the environmental impact of products when making purchasing decisions. The filing claims that consumers would not have bought Charmin toilet paper had they been aware of P&G’s broken promises, which the suit argues are “clear violations” of the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides.

Despite P&G’s allegedly deceptive claims and apparent Green Guide violations, the company “refuses to act to either conform its environmental practices to be consistent with what it is telling consumers—or admit to its reliance on environmentally devastating activities,” the case asserts.

The Procter & Gamble lawsuit looks to represent anyone who purchased Charmin toilet paper between January 16, 2021 and January 16, 2025 in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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