Sometimes, Greenpeace’s tactics against corporations really work. For proof, look no further than Kimberly-Clark.

In 2004, Greenpeace launched an aggressive campaign against Kimberly-Clark, the manufacturer of Kleenex and Scott toilet paper. Dubbed “Kleercut,” the campaign targeted the tissuemakers questionable sourcing practices–according to Greenpeace, Kimberly-Clark sourced up to 22% of its paper pulp from Canadian boreal forests containing 200-year-old trees. The Kleercut website claimed, “Kimberly-Clark is, unfortunately, a company that puts more effort into

making their environmental record ‘sound’ good and green than it does

into actually improving their business practices and making the

manufacture of their disposable tissue products environmentally

friendly.”

Greenpeace didn’t just send out strongly-worded press releases. The nonprofit launched blockades at Kimberly-Clark’s offices, disrupted meetings, snuck into Kleenex commercial shoots, and released aggressive YouTube videos. But ultimately, “Kimberly-Clark didn’t think they were doing anything wrong. The company took a lot of pride in its sustainable practices,” explains Suhas Apte, Kimberly-Clark’s vice president of global sustainability. “We used to consider NGO’s as non-value add entities.”

Then students on college campuses latched onto the Kleercut campaign. The media–including Fast Company–started highlighting the company’s destructive practices. Kimberly-Clark began worrying about its reputation.

In late 2008, the company decided that it was worth listening to Greenpeace. Kimberly-Clark set up a meeting with the nonprofit sans staff support–and discovered that the relationship might be of value. “As we learned in that discussion, we realized that our sourcing protocols

were not rigorous enough,” admits Apte. “Our fiber policy talked about how we wanted to be 100%

certified among the top five certifications but our actions were not promoting

that gold standard.”

With Greenpeace’s help, Kimberly-Clark fast-tracked its sustainability goals. The company has pledged to stop sourcing non-Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood by 2012, and it set a 2011

goal to have 40% of the fiber in North American tissue

products either recycled or certified by the FSC–a 71% increase from 2007 levels. These are all goals that Kimberly-Clark would have achieved without Greenpeace, Apte says, but cooperating with the nonprofit sped up the process considerably.