Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold

Jan Anton van Zanten ()
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Jan Anton van Zanten: Osmosis Investment Management NL

Chapter 3 in Big Money, Better World?, 2026, pp 23-33 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract When DWS, the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank, was fined USD 27 million for greenwashing in 2023, it exposed a truth that runs through the entire sustainable investing industry: Strong branding and slick marketing do not always translate into sustainable investment practice. This chapter asks a pointed question – do investors who claim to invest sustainably actually do so? The evidence is uncomfortable. Research examining the ownership of sustainable and unsustainable companies finds that investors who sign major sustainability pledges – including the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment – behave remarkably similar to those who sign nothing at all. Both groups hold comparable stakes in harmful companies and show little difference in how actively they engage with them. At the fund level, the picture is equally sobering: Many self-proclaimed dark green funds invest in fossil fuels, aviation, and other brown industries. Yet not all of this is deliberate deception. Some investors genuinely do not know how to identify which companies are truly sustainable – a diagnostic failure with real consequences. Before sustainable investing can deliver on its promise, investors must first learn to tell the difference between gold and glitter.

Keywords: greenwashing; ESG claims; sustainable fund performance; PRI signatories; dark green funds; sustainable investing practices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-32442-9_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-32442-9_3

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