{"id":17906,"date":"2022-02-22T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T03:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/bekasi\/accounting-technology\/?p=17906"},"modified":"2022-02-22T10:03:51","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T03:03:51","slug":"part-1-greenwash-a-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binus.ac.id\/bekasi\/accounting-technology\/2022\/02\/22\/part-1-greenwash-a-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1. GREENWASH: A Definition"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often hear \u2018greenwashing\u2019 word in any conversation, discussion, news or read it on newspaper. However, only few of us have understood what it is.<\/p>\n

According to Cambridge dictionary, greenwash is \u201can\u00a0attempt\u00a0to make people believe\u00a0that\u00a0your company\u00a0is doing more to\u00a0protect\u00a0the\u00a0environment\u00a0than it really is\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to Merriam-Webster\u2019s Collegiate Dictionary, \u2018Greenwashing\u2019 is derived from \u2018green\u2019 and \u2018brainwashing\u2019 which means \u201ca forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas\u201d.<\/p>\n

From those two definitions, it can be summarizing that greenwashing is activities by a company or an organisation that are intended to make people think that it is concerned about the environment, even if its real business actually harms the environment. Greenwashing activity can be undertaken by deliberately disseminate positive information about their environmental performance without full disclosure of less favourable activities (Lyon and Maxwell, 2011). In other words, companies that are practising greenwashing give misleading environmental information to other parties and fail to reveal wrongdoing activities.<\/p>\n

Some studies conclude that greenwashing is conducted not only by companies but also by governments, NGOs, some others. Governments, public sector organisations, individual politicians and even NGOs have all been criticised for communicating false progress on environmental issues. Some factors can be the external drivers of greenwashing include regulators and stakeholders (e.g., consumers, investors, or competitors). Weak and uncertain regulations are mentioned as having a severe impact on greenwashing activity. Moreover, lack of enforceable standards for voluntary and even some mandatory non-financial reporting, with only guidelines, such as GRI, existing, together with little requirement for assurance of information provided,<\/p>\n

Several researchers conclude that some companies practise \u201cgreenwashing\u201d to gain, maintain, or improve their reputation, which can lead to gaining of legitimacy (Castilla-Polo and S\u00e1nchez-Hern\u00e1ndez, 2020).<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n