An Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing
Open accessAbstract
In this paper we examine definitions of ‘greenwashing’ and its different forms, developing a tool for assessing diverse ‘green’ claims made by various actors. Research shows that significant deception and misleading claims exist both in the regulated commercial sphere, as well as in the unregulated non-commercial sphere (e.g., governments, NGO partnerships, international pledges, etc.). Recently, serious concerns have been raised over rampant greenwashing, in particular with regard to rapidly emerging net zero commitments. The proposed framework we developed is the first actionable tool for analysing the quality and truthfulness of such claims. The framework has widespread and unique potential for highlighting efforts that seek to delay or distract real solutions that are urgently needed today to tackle multiple climate and environmental crises. In addition, we note how the framework may also assist in the development of practices and communication strategies that ultimately avoid greenwashing.
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Consumer reactions to CSR vary even among neighboring nations (e.g., Greece vs. Bulgaria), indicating the necessity of empirical testing before assuming structural equivalence.
“Consumer reactions to CSR vary even among neighboring nations (e.g., Greece vs. Bulgaria), indicating the necessity of empirical testing before assuming structural equivalence (Ktisti et al., 2022;Nemes et al., 2022).”
From Cross-national evidence on influencer-driven green choice: a moderated-mediation model of authenticity, parasocial ties, and greenwashing exposure (2026) · cites this paper as Nemes et al., 2022
The Materials and Methods section discusses frameworks for assessing greenwashing, and the cited passages mentioning CSR do not report cross-national consumer reactions. Searches for Greece and Bulgaria, consumer responses to CSR, and structural equivalence found no passage addressing the claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Cites
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BackgroundThe Means and End of Greenwash
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“First, Lyon and Montgomery [11] reviewed and synthesized the multidisciplinary research on greenwashing and reviewed 34 papers in three categories: drivers of greenwash; varieties of greenwash and the impacts of greenwash.”
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Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W. (2011) · Journal of Economics & Management Strategy · doi:10.1111/j.1530-9134.2010.00282.x · Cited by 1,569 · see citing works
Can evoking nature in advertising mislead consumers? The power of ‘executional greenwashing'
Parguel, B., Benoit-Moreau, F., & Russell, C. A. (2015) · International Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/02650487.2014.996116 · Cited by 364 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Balaskas, S., & Yfantidou, I. (2026) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2026.1764803 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Consumer reactions to CSR vary even among neighboring nations (e.g., Greece vs. Bulgaria), indicating the necessity of empirical testing before assuming structural equivalence (Ktisti et al., 2022; Nemes et al., 2022).”
- Authors
- Nemes, N., Scanlan, S. J., Smith, P., Smith, T., Aronczyk, M., Hill, S., Lewis, S. L., Montgomery, A. W., Tubiello, F. N., & Stabinsky, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Ohio University (US)
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Vienna University of Economics and Business (AT)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Toronto Metropolitan University (CA)
- University College London (GB)
- Western University (CA)
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (IT)
- College of the Atlantic (US)
- Corresponding author
- Stabinsky, Doreen
- ORCID
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-04-08
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 4431
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4224238808
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 9
- FWCI
- 31.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Universität Wien
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
- Keywords
- greenwashing, environmental claims, misleading environmental claims, net-zero pledges, climate commitments, NGO partnerships, climate change communication
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