Why P&G’s sustainability chief leads a monthly Q&A

Every month, Procter & Gamble’s long-time head of sustainability, Virginie Helias, holds a 30-minute-long “Ask the CSO” session to field questions from the consumer products company’s 100,000-plus employees.

She introduced the tradition during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspired by a communications strategy adopted by former Unilever CEO Alan Jope. Today, it’s one of several ongoing communications methods that P&G uses to keep its workforce abreast of progress related to the company’s environmental and social impact agenda.

“Employees can be our best ambassadors, and it works both ways,” said Helias during the latest episode of Climate Pioneers, Trellis’ video leadership interview series. “If they are not convinced about what you do on sustainability, that’s a problem. Because if you can’t convince your own employees, how will you be able to convince consumers?”

Helias joined P&G in 1988. She’s been involved with the company’s sustainability strategy since 2011 and became its first chief sustainability officer in 2016, reporting to the CEO. At the time, environmental management was handled in a silo. That changed in April 2018, when P&G made all employees accountable for the commitments set in its Ambition 2030 strategy.

“We don’t hire for sustainability, we hire for the best finance people, the best marketers, the best legal people. We want to integrate [sustainability] as opposed to having it be a theoretical topic,” Helias said. “So, be the best at your trade and then you’ll make sustainability a part of it.”

P&G’s environmental commitments include a plan to reduce operational emissions by 65 percent by 2030, when compared with a 2010 baseline; it cut them by 60 percent through the company’s 2024 fiscal year. Progress has been slower on goals related to its supply chain. For example, P&G reduced its freight transportation footprint intensity by 4 percent by 2024, compared with its 50 percent end-of-decade goal.

Metrics related to the Ambition 2030 agenda are part of employees’ compensation, and the strategy factors in recruiting and onboarding for new workers. The most frequent question during Helias’ monthly Q&A sessions: “How do you reconcile business growth with sustainability?”

Helias often points to product innovation inspired by P&G’s environmental pledges — such as a new Tide laundry detergent format that doesn’t include any water — as proof that sustainability doesn’t come at the expense of new revenue. P&G’s sales increased 18 percent from 2020 to 2025, as emissions intensity decreased.

“We are getting better at answering [that question], but it’s still something in people’s minds, especially the junior people,” Helias said.

P&G’s central sustainability team is modest in size: Helias didn’t share headcount, but many are “experienced senior people” who are embedded in specific operational functions. The organization’s primary responsibility is to identify best practices related to P&G’s environmental goals and to find the right internal channels to expose them to others.

“My people are rewarded on their ability to find the best practices, to codify the best practices and share them for reapplication across the business,” she said.

There are several forums for doing so, including P&G’s technical centers of expertise, which is part of the research and development organization. The sustainability team also contributes updates to a sustainability forum specific to the company’s senior vice presidents.

P&G’s sustainability narrative is included in quarterly town halls held across the company by senior leaders, often in the form of short videos about specific achievements related to the business unit. The sustainability team produces those messages and disseminates them for integration into the meeting agenda.

“When people hear this from their business leaders, it has a whole different level of impact,” Helias said. “So we are enabling our business leaders to talk about this.”

Helias also hosts an interview series that started in late 2025, called Real Talk, that she shares on social media channels including LinkedIn — targeting both employees and the broader business community. It features brief conversations with P&G’s senior executives, probing their view on a sustainability-related topic. Leaders featured so far include the company’s chief financial officer, chief product supply officer and president of the North America division.

“Because it’s public, it has more weight, so it’s a very interesting dynamic,” she said.…Read more by Heather Clancy