Businesses that boast strong political connections are more likely to avoid scrutiny over potential greenwashing, a new study by Durham University Business School has suggested.
The study, which was led by Professor Joseph Amankwah-Amoah of Durham University’s Department of Management and Marketing, explored a number of case studies involving businesses that boasted solid political relationships, and developed a framework covering market dynamics, institutional environments and public perceptions.
As the study found, ‘businesses investing heavily in lobbying and political engagement can face less criticism of their environmental claims, allowing misleading sustainability messaging to flourish’.
According to the researchers, political connections can provide firms with protection from regulatory and public accountability, thereby reducing the consequences of misleading sustainability communications.
‘Vital marketing tool’
Presenting an environmentally responsible image has become a ‘vital marketing tool’ for many firms, the report noted, prompting some to overstate their environmental credentials – with extensive lobbying and relationship building with political decision-makers helping to reduce incentives to investigate or challenge these claims.
Stronger safeguards will be necessary to address the links between political influence and greenwashing, with the researchers calling for a ‘more consistent international framework’ on how companies communicate their environmental performance, as well as appropriate enforcement measures and sanctions for any breaches.
Certification schemes
They also called for more independent oversight of green certification schemes, adding that those responsible for assessing environmental claims need to be ‘protected from the influence’ of the companies they are regulating.
‘Transparency alone will not be enough to tackle greenwashing if institutions remain vulnerable to political or corporate pressure,’ the report notes. ‘As expectations on businesses to demonstrate genuine environmental responsibility continue to grow.’
The full report, Unraveling the nexus of corporate political engagement and greenwashing in global markets, was published in the journal International Marketing Review. Read more here and here.
