ESG Greenwashing
Greenwashing is the most mentioned problem in ESG, and it is also an issue involving many stakeholders like consumers, investors, enterprises.
Although the world has not yet formed a consistent definition of greenwashing, various jurisdictions have realized the harm and actively issued policies.
Types of Greenwashing
Common types of greenwashing include:
Greencrowding: refers to the situation where a company, in an industry with many market participants, believes that its behavior is difficult to detect and takes greenwashing actions.
Greenlighting: refers to the practice of a company carrying out and promoting sustainable actions in a certain direction to attract market attention, but greenwashing in other areas.
Greenshifting: refers to companies blaming the emergence of greenwashing issues as a result of consumers themselves.
Greenlabeling: refers to a statement made by a company that its products and services meet green standards, but in reality, they have not met these standards or are misleading to consumers.
Greenrinsing: refers to the process in which a company continuously changes its sustainable goals before achieving them, in order to reduce market attention to the original goals.
Greenhushing: refers to companies reduce underperforming issues in sustainable disclosure and avoid scrutiny.
French Regulator AMF Proposes Anti-Greenwashing Measures for ESG Funds
The French regulator AMF issued a document recommending that the minimum environmental standards be included in the classification of ESG funds under SFDR to reduce the possibility of greenwashing
ESMA SMSG Give Advice on ESG Greenwashing
The Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG) under the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) put forward advice on the problem of ESG greenwashing
ICMA Responds to Sustainability Disclosure Requirements and Investment Labels
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) replied to the draft Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and advised on the three types of sustainable investment labels. ICMA believes that the proposal of SDR can help the financial industry to make greater contributions in the transformation of low-carbon economy, and the establishment of investment labels can facilitate the sustainable product development of asset management companies and help investors to select appropriate financial products
Insurance Europe Issued Opinions on Greenwashing
The Insurance Europe (European Insurance and Reinsurance Federation) issued a report in response to the previous three European regulators’ inquiries on the issue of greenwashing. Insurance Europe said that insurance companies have taken actions against sustainable
ICMA Put Forward Suggestions on ESG Greenwashing
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) recently issued a document in response to the solicitation of opinions from European regulators on ESG greenwashing and put forward new views on the definition of greenwashing, the
Japan Releases Regulations on ESG Greenwashing
The Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA for short) recently issued documents to supervise ESG fund greenwashing. FSA believes that with the introduction of ESG into the name and investment strategy of the fund, the problem of greenwashing is
Switzerland Releases Regulations to Solve ESG Greenwashing
This regulatory document is the first time that the regulatory authority has formulated the ESG fund greenwashing issue. It believes that if the fund pursues sustainability, it needs to disclose relevant specific plans to the market
Deep Dive on ESG Greenwashing
The phenomenon of greenwashing in the current market is more complex and difficult to identify than 36 years ago. Greenwashing can be understood as “declaring green actions to the outside world when do not meet the green standards”, or “exaggerating green actions”