Tackling greenwashing and carbonwashing: the role of tax policies in promoting environmental integrity

Paulo Caliendo and Victória Maltchik Salles Jung

Chapter 2 in Frontiers in the Low-carbon Transition, 2026, pp 22-37 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Amid the global expansion of sustainability discourses, deceptive practices such as greenwashing and carbonwashing undermine environmental governance. This chapter examines how tax policies, aligned with the promotional function of law, can restore transparency in regulation. It argues that weak oversight facilitates abuses within carbon markets, eroding public trust. By conditioning incentives on auditable performance, taxation promotes ecological integrity and prevents the symbolic appropriation of sustainability rhetoric. Strengthening environmental tax governance is thus an imperative to ensure genuine sustainability and intergenerational justice.

Keywords: Sustainability; Greenwashing; Carbonwashing; Tax Policies; Environmental Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781049412115
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