Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) is a good thing, but Jim Gill of Hanzo points out an ESG downside: the dangers of greenwashing.

In his latest post titled The Downside of ESG: The Dangers of Greenwashing (available here), Jim discusses how, in recent years, there has been an increasing trend for companies to claim environmental sustainability, making public commitments to lower carbon emissions and other eco-friendly measures. However, this rise in environmental claims has also led to the concern of “greenwashing”.

So, what is “greenwashing”?

Greenwashing occurs when an organization makes false or inflated claims about the environmental soundness of its practices or products. As more organizations make public—and often impressive-sounding—environmental sustainability claims, greenwashing is becoming a bigger concern.

It’s also a global concern. According to a report from the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero, over 20% of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies have made net-zero commitments, promising to lower human-caused carbon emissions to an amount that would be canceled out by greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere.

But who is overseeing these claims or holding organizations to their promises?

Jim discusses that question, the litigation risk associated with the dangers of greenwashing, and how organizations are staffing ESG programs to mitigate risk. Click here to find out more – it’s just one more click! There’s zero risk in clicking to his article! 😉

So, what do you think? What sustainability programs does your organization have to promote ESG?  Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclosure: Hanzo is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

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