Greenhushing
The inverse of greenwashing, by which a company keeps silent about its sustainability commitments to avoid litigation and criticism.
Greenhushing is the deliberate withholding or understatement, by a company, of its sustainability commitments and performance. It fears being attacked for greenwashing or being caught in the political quarrel over ESG. This is the pendulum effect of climate litigation. The company is caught in a vise: it is blamed for doing too much, which exposes it to greenwashing, or for doing too little, which disappoints investors and regulators demanding transparency. The double bind reveals the weakness of an ESG founded on communication rather than on the measurement of risk. That is why the insurer has an interest in anchoring its approach in financial materiality, which describes a fact, rather than in a declarative posture that hangs on a shifting consensus.
Textbook case: for fear of a lawsuit, a company stops publishing its climate targets, tipping from greenwashing into greenhushing at the risk of disappointing its investors.
greenhushing, green silence
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