As one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, P&G embraces the opportunity to drive real impact as a force for good and a force for growth. In Việt Nam, it has shown the ability and commitment to carry out responsible business and do good. The newly appointed VP & country manager of P&G Vietnam, Priyamvada Srivastava, speaks about the company's ESG goals and how they are implemented in the Vietnamese market.

ESG is a goal that many companies are pursuing around the world. Can you tell us why it matters to P&G?

At P&G, we believe that while it is our responsibility to create and deliver superior products and value to our consumers to improve their lives, it is also our responsibility to do so in a way that helps develop communities and minimise our environmental footprint.

We are well aware that our ability to do well is connected to our commitment to do good, and our ability to do good is strengthened by our growth. And we ensure this by focusing on technologies, processes, and improvements that matter for the environment and are based on our endeavor of being a force for good for the planet.

How is P&G incorporating ESG into its business in Việt Nam?

In Việt Nam, we have made efforts in ESG areas through our citizenship pillars of environmental sustainability, community impact, E&I, and ethics and corporate responsibility in our everyday business.

P&G Vietnam won the Grand Prize Award (Excellence in ESG Impact) of AmCham ESG Impact Awards 2022 for its outstanding contribution to the sustainable development of Việt Nam. — Photos courtesy of the company

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We aim to make a meaningful and long-term impact on the communities we operate in through our various sustainability initiatives.

First, products that are designed to save water and energy, help consumers save money and reduce their environmental footprint.

Second, reducing our carbon footprint and striving for more circular approaches in our supply chain. Our two plants in Bình Dương and Bến Cát are zero-waste-to-landfill manufacturing sites.

Third, taking impressive initiatives to raise awareness among our employees, business partners, and consumers about the importance of preserving our natural resources.

And last, building partnerships with external organisations and our retailers to enable consumers to participate in green initiatives.

Recently, we successfully brought our iconic “Forest for Good” Programme to Việt Nam through the partnership with our long-term strategic partners Central Retail in Vietnam & Gaia Nature Conservation. Six thousand trees of precious species are set to be planted in the initial phase at various locations across Việt Nam, including Xuân Liên and Cà Mau forests. This meaningful initiative not only promotes environmental protection but, more importantly, inspires consumers to play an active role in preserving the earth.

Leaders of P&G Vietnam and Central Retail Vietnam award the afforestation certificate to Xuân Liên Nature Reserve.

To accelerate our community impacts, we focus on providing clean drinking water, disaster relief, scholarships for students and financial aid, and empowering women to help them take care of their families and develop themselves.

“Children’s Safe Drinking Water” is P&G’s global signature programme committed to helping children and families access clean drinking water. This programme first started in Việt Nam in 2016 through co-operation with the Vietnam Red Cross. To date, the programme has provided more than 90 million litres of clean drinking water to nearly 150,000 households in more than 10 provinces and cities including Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Long An, An Giang, and Đồng Tháp.

This year, we have continued to implement this meaningful initiative in Việt Nam via the strategic partnership with Saigon Co.op, which allows consumers to contribute to this great cause by purchasing P&G’s products from Saigon Co.op’s retail network. Responding to climate change, we are committed to expanding the programme to localities and regions that lack clean water and are easily affected by natural disasters in Việt Nam.

P&G’s “Children’s Safe Drinking Water” programme has provided more than 90 million litres of clean drinking water to nearly 150,000 households in Việt Nam.

Equality and inclusion are also an important part of our strategy to be a force for good in Việt Nam. We believe diversity accelerates our ability to innovate and create, solve problems to make a meaningful difference to the consumers we serve and support the communities in which we live and work.

To enable this, we have built equal access into our systems, policies and practices so that people have a truly inclusive experience at P&G. In Việt Nam, females constitute 50 per cent of our management roles, and we have increasing numbers of female technicians in our plants. We are taking deliberate actions to accelerate equality and inclusion for all, including gender equality, LGBTQ+ visibility, people with disabilities, and employees with disabled dependents accessibility.

Ethics and corporate responsibility are the foundation for everything we do at P&G Việt Nam. Sustaining our robust business depends on maintaining strong ethical, compliance and quality standards across everything we do. It is a critical reason consumers trust us, partners do business with us, and shareholders invest in us.

As people increasingly rely on us to deliver superior solutions that are sustainable, this challenge is also an opportunity to extend our margin of superiority, further grow categories and create more value. We strongly believe that all our citizenship work must be firmly rooted in our Purpose, Values and Principles to be credible and impactful. — VNS