Corporate Greenwashing and Environmental Disclosure

Corporate greenwashing refers to the practice whereby organisations present an overstated or misleading view of their environmental performance, often through selective disclosure, ambiguous language or persuasive imagery. Environmental disclosure encompasses the processes and channels—such as sustainability reports, regulatory filings and voluntary platforms—through which firms communicate their actual ecological impacts, policies and progress. The tension between greenwashing and robust disclosure shapes stakeholder perceptions, investor decisions and policy effectiveness. Recent research has emphasised the need to distinguish between soft ESG claims (narrative statements, marketing materials) and hard ESG data (audited metrics, verifiable outcomes), as well as to assess the gap between a company’s apparent and its real environmental performance. Across jurisdictions, scholars have debated the merits of voluntary versus mandatory reporting regimes, while regulators and civil society have developed frameworks to enhance transparency. This evolving field holds global significance: reliable disclosure systems can mobilise capital towards low-carbon solutions, restore consumer trust and reinforce corporate accountability in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Corporate Greenwashing and Environmental Disclosure publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in corporate greenwashing and environmental disclosure across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Greenwashing: Corporate communication or behaviour intended to exaggerate environmental responsibility or performance without substantive action.

Environmental disclosure: The publication or reporting of a company’s environmental policies, practices and performance metrics to stakeholders and regulators.

ESG data: Information covering Environmental, Social and Governance factors; soft ESG refers to qualitative narrative disclosures, while hard ESG denotes quantitative, third-party-verified metrics.

Sustainability report assurance: Independent verification of a firm’s environmental disclosures, enhancing credibility and reducing the risk of misleading claims.

Stakeholder theory: A conceptual framework asserting that organisations must account for the interests of all parties affected by their operations, including customers, investors, employees and communities.

References

1. Green, green, it’s green they say: a conceptual framework for measuring greenwashing on firm level. Review of Managerial Science (2023).
2. Grey zone in – greenwash out. A review of greenwashing research and implications for the voluntary-mandatory transition of CSR. Journal of Sustainable Business (2019).
3. An Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing. Sustainability (2022).
4. A systematic literature review on greenwashing and its relationship to stakeholders: state of art and future research agenda. Management Review Quarterly (2023).