Shades of green: a critical assessment of greenwashing in social and environmental business performance reports Online publication date: Wed, 29-Oct-2014
by Joel Richard Thomas
J. for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development (JIBED), Vol. 7, No. 3, 2014
Abstract: This paper explores the importance of corporate reporting, looking specifically at the presentation of social and environmental performance in annual reports. It argues that photography has commonly been employed in reports, oftentimes as a method of greenwashing. Many corporate reports contain ambiguous presentations of information, and photography is susceptible to both misinforming and disengaging the reader. It is difficult to discern the extent to which social and environmental reports are true depictions of efforts or achievements, as opposed to mere greenwashing. The plethora of reporting styles found in corporate reports has led to an obfuscated presentation of information. As such, there is increased need to implement a more rigorous approach to understanding the impact of these communications to ensure corporate performance can be understood by multiple stakeholders.
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