Library | Sustainable Finance Practices

Effective communication and greenwash

Tools and strategies for transparent communication on sustainability performance, with guidance on identifying and preventing greenwashing and advancing consumer education and financial literacy.

Refine
Resource type
Sustainable Finance Practices
ESG issues
SDGs
SASB Sustainability Sector
Finance relevance
Asset Class
Location
TAG
141 results
REFINE
SHOW: 16

IPSASB SRS 1, Climate-related disclosures

International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB)
This IPSASB standard establishes principles for public sector entities to disclose climate-related risks and opportunities. Aligned with IFRS S2, it mandates disclosures regarding governance, strategy, risk management, and performance metrics. The standard prioritises accountability for long-term fiscal sustainability and service delivery, with an effective date of 1 January 2028.
Research
28 January 2026

Generative debunking of climate misinformation

This research introduces 'generative debunking' using large language models to combat climate misinformation. By synthesising psychological best practices with computational tools, the study develops three models using the 'truth sandwich' approach. Expert evaluation indicates that structured prompting and retrieval-augmented generation significantly improve the identification and explanation of logical fallacies.
Research
19 March 2026

Oil spill 2: How fossil fuel interests are polluting the US's carbon market rulemaking

Carbon Market Watch
This report investigates the influence of fossil fuel companies and trade associations on US carbon market regulations. It details extensive lobbying in California and representative roles at the federal level, arguing that these efforts maintain low-quality credits to delay genuine decarbonisation and enable greenwashing.
Research
9 June 2026

Seeing green: The effects of financial exposures on support for climate action

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
This research evaluates a randomised controlled trial using financial exposure to the energy sector to build support for climate action. Findings demonstrate that ownership of green and brown assets increases support for mitigation policies through a learning mechanism, where participants consume more financial news and improve their environmental knowledge.
Research
4 February 2026

Taskforce on official standards and the Green Bond Principles. Phase 1: Comparison of the Green Bond Principles and the European Green Bond Standard

International Capital Market Association
This report compares the voluntary Green Bond Principles with the regulatory European Green Bond Standard. It identifies high proximity and synergy between the frameworks, providing guidance on how issuers can navigate both sets of requirements to enhance transparency and facilitate global investor recognition in the sustainable finance market.
Research
22 June 2026

Greenwashing as aspirational signaling: From burden to benefit?

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)
This research analyses the transition of sustainability disclosures from voluntary practices to mandatory legal frameworks in the US and EU. It examines the 'greenwashing enforcement gap' and argues that aspirational signalling, despite inaccuracies, can drive institutional change and attract a prosocial workforce to improve corporate conduct.
Research
18 September 2026

Guidance for voluntary climate change mitigation

New Zealand Government
This guidance outlines expectations for voluntary climate change mitigation in New Zealand. It details six core principles for high-integrity carbon credits, including additionality and permanence. It distinguishes between contribution and exclusive-use claims and clarifies the role of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme and Nationally Determined Contributions.
Research
12 May 2026

Limited impacts of shareholder pressure on climate strategy of fossil firms

This research examines shareholder pressure on US fossil fuel firms’ climate strategies. Using NLP to analyse 10-K filings and SEC regulatory changes, it finds limited impact on substantive reforms. Firms often employ symbolic disclosures or procedural tactics to resist decarbonisation, suggesting that mandatory policy is required for transition.
Research
28 January 2026

Oxford-GlobeScan global corporate affairs survey series

University of Oxford
This benchmark series provides an overview of opinions, trends, and challenges within the corporate affairs function. Produced annually, the research captures insights from senior professionals globally to track the evolution of the corporate affairs agenda, focusing on reputation, sustainability, geoeconomics, and stakeholder engagement.
Benchmark/series
9 July 2026

Faire Fonds Database

Urgewald
The Faire Fonds Database is a screening tool from Facing Finance and urgewald that analyses thousands of retail funds for controversial holdings. It identifies exposure to sectors like fossil fuels and weapons while highlighting potential greenwashing in ESG-labelled products.
Online tool/database
22 November 2019

What do sustainability disclosures disclose?

This research analyses over 15,000 sustainability disclosures from Russell 3000 firms. It finds that while reporting has surged since 2015, informative quality has declined. Adoption of voluntary standards yields mixed results, correlating with reduced 'fluff' but lower narrative specificity. Improvements primarily reflect selection effects rather than organisational learning.
Research
29 January 2026

Seeing the goal, missing the truth: Human accountability for AI bias

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Research demonstrates that Large Language Models exhibit purpose-conditioned bias when informed of downstream tasks. Goal-aware prompting leads to in-sample overfitting and inflated performance before knowledge cutoffs. Results indicate that disclosing objectives compromises neutrality, necessitating the separation of measurement and evaluation in AI-assisted workflows to ensure statistical validity.
Research
22 April 2026

Climate-related disclosures: Insights from our reviews 2026

Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
This Financial Markets Authority report reviews 62 climate statements from the second reporting period in Aotearoa New Zealand. It identifies improvements in reporting structures but highlights gaps in physical risk analysis and assurance compliance. Future monitoring will focus on education to improve data substantiation and risk disclosure quality.
Research
26 May 2026

ICMA's guidance handbooks series

International Capital Market Association
This guidance series provides a comprehensive set of questions and answers regarding the application of the Green Bond Principles, Social Bond Principles, Sustainability Bond Guidelines, and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles. It serves as a benchmark series for the sustainable bond market, promoting transparency and standardisation across various financial debt instruments.
Benchmark/series
18 June 2026

Environmental claims, climate promises, and ‘greenwashing’ by meat and dairy companies

This research examines environmental claims from 33 major meat and dairy companies. It finds that 98% of 1,233 identified claims constitute greenwashing. While most claims are climate-related, many are unverifiable future promises lacking scientific evidence. The industry’s sustainability reporting often mimics tactics used by the fossil fuel sector.
Research
22 April 2026

The emancipatory potential of biodiversity reporting: Evidence from the United Kingdom and South Africa

This research evaluates the emancipatory potential of biodiversity reporting within the United Kingdom and South Africa. Analysing disclosures from 2018 to 2022, it finds significant increases in reporting intensity. The study presents a principles-based framework to distinguish between compliance-oriented disclosures and transformative, action-oriented environmental reporting.
Research
23 April 2026
PREV
2 of 9
NEXT
Ask Alma
Join or sign in to use Alma, Altiorem’s AI Agent. Free members get 5 questions a month.