漂绿（Greenwashing）

何为漂绿？

Greenwashing was first coined in the 1980s by environmentalist Jay Westerveld. The term was in reference to a hotel policy about reusing towels in order to “save the environment,” but in reality, it was just a policy aimed at reducing laundry costs.

漂绿的定义

1. To mislead (the public) or counter (public or media concerns) by falsely representing a person, company, product, etc., as being environmentally responsible; 

2. To misrepresent (a company, its operations, etc.) as environmentally responsible.

1. “disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image” （Ramus & Montiel, 2005)

2. “the practice of making unsubstantiated or misleading claims about the company’s environmental commitment” (Flammer, 2021)

3. “as symbolic information emanating from within an organization without substantive actions. Or, in other words, discrepancy between the green talk and green walk.” (Walker & Wan, 2012; Ramus & Montiel, 2005)
• “commonly referred to as the gap between symbolic and substantive ESG conduct.”
• “giving priority to corporate social actions symbolically rather than substantively.”

4. “combines two corporate behaviours: an environmental misbehaviour (or poor environmental performance) and a misleading communication about said environmental performance. Thus, the concept implies an inconsistency between environmental-related words and deeds.” (Gatti et al., 2021)

5. “selective disclosure of positive information about a company’s environmental or social performance, without full disclosure of negative information on these dimensions, so as to create an overly positive corporate image.” (Lyon & Maxwell, 2011)

漂绿七宗罪

1. "隐藏的权衡”：基于不合理的狭窄属性而声称产品是"绿色"的，却不关注关键环境问题。

2. "无证据"：无法透过易于取得的资讯或可靠的第三方认证来证实的主张。

3. "模糊性"是一种定义不明确或泛泛的主张，消费者可能会误解其意义。例如所谓"纯天然"并非一定是"绿色"。

4. "虚假标签”：透过文字或图像给人有第三方认可印象，但实际上并无认证存在。

5. "不相关"：说法可能是真的，但对寻求环保产品的消费者来说并不重要，或没帮助。

6. "两害相权取其轻"：这种说法在该产品类别可能为正确，但可能会将消费者对该类别更重大的环境影响注意力分散。

7. "撒谎"：采用完全错误的说法。

如何衡量漂绿？

D-P差值法

• 企业ESG披露得分数据，例如文献经常提及并广泛使用的彭博ESG披露得分（Bloomberg ESG）；P.S. 有关彭博ESG的更多信息请见下一章节。

• 企业ESG表现得分数据，例如华证ESG得分、万德ESG得分等。

彭博ESG披露数据

变量描述

优缺点评价

优点

缺点

1. 该法从整体层面构建漂绿变量，不细究每一项ESG实践的具体情况。例如，“D-P差值法”无法回答企业在碳排放问题上是否存在漂绿的问题。

2. “D-P差值法”是从言行不一的角度衡量漂绿，却不能体现漂绿的另一层含义，即虚假宣传。简而言之，说得多并不能代表说假话，反之亦然。

3. ESG机构应该是获取企业的ESG信息之后再对其ESG表现进行评估，那么如果企业不披露信息，评估ESG表现便无从谈起。因此，理论上二者应该具有相关性。基于企业内外部行动的角度，也有文献将ESG实践和ESG信息披露分别视为企业的内/外部ESG行为，并指出ESG信息披露应该在ESG实践之后，逻辑是企业先实践ESG再宣传ESG，因此应该使用当年的披露得分减去上一年的表现得分。
P.S. 有文献已经指出企业的ESG表现与披露得分高度相关：

Our observation is consistent with the empirical finding of Herbohn et al. (2014) showing a positive performance-disclosure relation in the dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). (Yu, 2020)

Using data from 339 mining and energy firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2006, we find that corporate sustainability performance is strongly associated with disclosure as expected. (Herbohn et al. 2014)

We acknowledge that, not surprisingly, the correlation between the two constructs within the same year is very high (0.74; it drops to 0.54 when we use lagged internal actions and weigh by assets as specified in the market-value equation), but we note that this is mainly because (1) we use secondary data and (2) firms engage in both types of actions in trying to fulfill their responsibility and credibly signal to various stakeholders that they have done so. (Hawn & Ioannou, 2016)

4. 进一步的，某些ESG披露指标与ESG表现指标可能是相同或相似的。此时，这些指标在披露（Disclosure）和表现（Performance）两个维度上可能缺乏应有的区分度，导致“D-P差值法”失效。

参考文献

• Long, L., Wang, C., & Zhang, M. (2024). Does Social Media Pressure Induce Corporate Hypocrisy? Evidence of ESG Greenwashing from China. Journal of Business Ethics. - Link -

• Yu, E. P., Luu, B. V., & Chen, C. H. (2020). Greenwashing in environmental, social and governance disclosures. Research in International Business and Finance, 52, 101192. - Link -

• Zhang, D. (2023). Subsidy expiration and greenwashing decision: Is there a role of bankruptcy risk? Energy Economics, 118, 106530. - Link -

• Ren, J., Wu, P., & Hou, L. (2024). Social media attention and corporate greenwashing: Evidence from China. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, csr.2875. - Link -

• Ma et al. (2024). “ESG Disclosures, Green Innovation, and Greenwashing: All for Sustainable Development?” Sustainable Development, September 30, 2024, sd.3210. - Link -.

• Zhang, D.Y. “Can Environmental Monitoring Power Transition Curb Corporate Greenwashing Behavior?” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 212 (August 2023): 199–218. - Link -.

• Zhang, D.Y., Yichen Guo, and Samuel A. Vigne. “Does Family Culture Hamper Corporate Deceptive Green Behavior Decision-Making?” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 228 (December 2024): 106812. - Link -.

• Ramus, C. A., & Montiel, I. (2005). When Are Corporate Environmental Policies a Form of Greenwashing? Business & Society, 44(4), 377–414. - Link -

• Flammer, C. (2021). Corporate green bonds. Journal of Financial Economics, 142(2), 499–516. - Link -

• Walker, K., & Wan, F. (2012). The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(2), 227–242. - Link -

• Gatti, L., Pizzetti, M., & Seele, P. (2021). Green lies and their effect on intention to invest. Journal of Business Research, 127, 228–240. - Link -

• Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W. (2011). Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 20(1), 3–41. - Link -

• Hometown CEOs and greenwashing: from the perspective of energy consumption. - Link -