The Issue with Tissue

In 2019, NRDC published The Issue with Tissue, a report that spotlighted the link between major U.S. tissue product manufacturers and the destruction of one of the most ecologically important forests in the world, the boreal forest of Canada. It also included a scorecard for consumers, ranking major toilet paper, paper towel, and facial tissue brands on their sustainability for forests and the climate.

In 2020, NRDC published The Issue with TissueSecond Edition, which noted changes in the industry landscape and updated the scorecard. The third-and fourth-editionscorecards were published in 2021 and 2022, respectively, with grades for more products than ever before and an updated methodology that reflects the growing urgency with which scientists are calling for the protection of forests with high ecological integrity. NRDC's The Issue with TissueFifth Editionreport and scorecard, released in 2023, highlighted the rapid rise of sustainable tissue brands that are embracing solutions to halt the "tree-to-toilet pipeline" and answer consumers' calls for more eco-friendly options.

NRDC released The Issue with TissueSixth Editionscorecardin 2024, which, for the first time, reveals movement among the industry's biggest players toward greater sustainability. Still, Procter & Gamble (P&G) remains stuck in the past, rejecting demands from consumers and shareholders alike to end its almost exclusive use of forest fiber for Charmin and its other flagship tissue brands. The company's years of inaction continue to fuel widespread impacts on the Canadian boreal forest and its threatened species, its vast stores of carbon, and the communities that depend on it. P&G remains the only one of the three largest U.S. toilet paper producers to earn F grades for its tissue brands across all six editions of NRDC's scorecard.