Greenwashing Index: A comparative research of greenwashing practices in Portugal, Italy, Germany and Croatia
Description
This publication research, Greenwashing Index: A comparative research of greenwashing practices in Portugal, Italy, Germany and Croatia, was developed as part of the project GreenGuard, co-financed by Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships in Youth, coordinated by Contextos – Cooperativa para o Desenvolvimento e Coesão Social, CRL (Portugal), in partnership with Istituto ad ordinamento universitario Scuola Superiore Carolina Albasio (Italy), Youth Power Germany EV (Germany) and Pannonia Consulting D.O.O. (Croatia).
GreenGuard – Mobilizing Digital Solutions for Genuine Environmental Progress project (2024-2026) aims at contributing to counteract greenwashing by investigating greenwashing practices in partner countries, raise public awareness to the topic, develop prevention guidelines, empower youth and organizations through educational programs, and design user-friendly tech solutions to support better informed environmental choices by consumers.
This publication is the first publication of GreenGuard and aims to offer country-specific research of greenwashing practices in the four partner countries – Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Croatia – as a cornerstone for the project and to serve as a resource for youth workers, NGO’s, activists, scholars, policymakers, and others. It also offers a set of guidelines towards more sustainable practices. Guidelines towards more sustainable practices will be further expanded in the second publication of the project, targeting more specifically NGO’s: Guidelines for organizations working with young individuals to transition towards more sustainable practices.
The document begins by introducing the concept of greenwashing and contextualizing its prevalence and significance. The research is divided into two main parts:
Greenwashing Index Research: Case Study Analysis
Greenwashing and Youth: Survey Analysis
In the first part, a set of exemplificative case studies from each country is presented to test the application of a proposed Greenwashing Index scale developed during this project. In the second part, the results of the youth surveys conducted in the scope of the research are presented and compared across the four countries. The document concludes with key takeaways from the research and a set of guidelines for preventing greenwashing.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Juventude/Desporto e Corpo Europeu de Solidariedade de Portugal. Neither the European Union nor Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Juventude/Desporto e Corpo Europeu de Solidariedade de Portugal can be held responsible for them.