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Title: Greenwashing practices in carbon management accounting within the financial services sector: a systematic review using PRISMA and bibliometric analysis

Authors: Manabhanjan Sahu; Furquan Uddin; Kishan Jee; Sameer Shekhar; Md Billal Hossain

Addresses: Department of Management and Business Administration, SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Deemed to be University, Hyderabad – 509301, India ' Department of Management and Business Administration, Aliah University, Kolkata – 700160, India ' Department of Commerce, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai – 400077, India ' Department of Commerce, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Odisha-751024, India ' Sustainability Competence Centre, Széchenyi Istvàn University, 9026 Győr, Hungary

Abstract: This study aims to examine the issue of greenwashing in carbon management accounting (CMA) within the financial services sector (FSS) explaining the importance of the gap between the sustainability information provided by financial institutions and their environmental performance. We performed a systematic review of 22 peer-reviewed publications from Scopus and Web of Science databases (2014-2024) employing the PRISMA framework, and performed bibliometric analysis along VOS viewer. We found that financial intermediaries routinely use greenwashing techniques, such as selective environmental reporting and misleading disclosure, to align with investors and regulators while continuing to finance high-carbon projects. The bibliometric analysis reveals two major thematic clusters: 1) regulatory pressures and governance mechanisms; 2) carbon performance metrics and ESG integration. Consequently, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a detailed methodology for aligning greenwashing assessment with environmental accountability in the context of CMA, and is among the first systematic reviews to synthesise greenwashing in this context. We identified critical research gaps and proposed a future research agenda on standardised metrics, verification mechanisms, and regulatory frameworks.

Keywords: greenwashing; carbon management accounting; CMA; financial institutions; ESG disclosures; preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses; PRISMA; bibliometric analysis; sustainable finance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMFA.2026.157436

International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting, 2026 Vol.18 No.10, pp.1 - 30

Received: 24 Jun 2026
Accepted: 04 Sep 2026
Published online: 03 Nov 2026 *