From greenwashing to ESG‐washing: A focus on the circular economy field

In the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) today, Environmental, Social and\r\nGovernance (ESG) factors play a fundamental and increasingly central role in the\r\nevaluation of corporate performance worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to\r\ninvestigate whether the recent phenomenon of ESG issues has given rise to a new\r\nform of greenwashing in a broad sense, not limited to the environmental sphere, but\r\nalso extended to social and governance issues. The paper examines whether companies\r\nengaged in the transition to sustainable and in particular to circular models are\r\nactually focusing on concrete sustainable actions and less on distorted communication.\r\nSpecifically, ESG performance measures were collected for 366 companies from\r\nthe most impactful industries in different countries around the world to test the relationships\r\nbetween ESG performance, adoption of circular economy models and\r\n‘washing’ practices related to stakeholder communication. As the transition to sustainable\r\nand circular models requires not only substantive action but also transparency,\r\nfurther research and efforts are needed to better understand the relationship\r\nbetween these elements in corporate behavior.