ESG disclosures, green innovation, and greenwashing: All for sustainable development?

Yan Ma, Gen‐Fu Feng, Zhu‐jia Yin and Chun‐Ping Chang

Sustainable Development, 2025, vol. 33, issue 2, 1797-1815

Abstract: As stakeholder concerns about corporate sustainability intensify, greenwashing—where companies deceptively report their environmental performance for short‐term economic gain—poses a significant threat to long‐term sustainability, making it crucial to explore effective ways to curb this practice. Using data from 1,270 Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2019, this study constructs two‐way fixed effects and moderating effects models to explore the crucial role of green innovation in curbing greenwashing. Green innovation not only reduces the incentives for greenwashing, but also makes a genuine contribution to environmental protection, thus promoting a “win‐win” scenario for both sustainability and corporate development. Moreover, the positive impact of green innovation on curbing greenwashing can be significantly amplified by easing financial constraints and enhancing firms’ risk‐taking capabilities to foster a stable financial environment, as well as by strengthening the governance structure through increased gender diversity and environmental background among managers. Heterogeneity tests show that this pathway is particularly effective in companies with heavy pollution and higher economic performance. The research findings help to formulate more effective management strategies and incentive mechanisms to reduce greenwashing and achieve sustainable development.

Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3210

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:2:p:1797-1815

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainable Development is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Sustainable Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().