New Ranking: The Largest Corporate Greenwashing Fines & Settlements (2024)

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Posted 7 months ago

New research from plastic pollution prevention startup CleanHub reveals thebiggest corporate greenwashing fines and settlements– with Volkswagen’s Dieselgate emissions scandal penalty topping the list atover $34 billion.

Here are the key findings:

The ten corporate fines, settlements, and donations rangefrom the hundreds of thousands to the billions, with all of these taking place in thelast 10 yearsshowing how serious the financial implications for greenwashing have become.
Car manufacturersVolkswagen (#1) and Toyota (#2)top the list with fines of$34.69 billion and $180 million, respectively, from falsified emissions data and delays to emissions reports. Additionally, the 2014 VW Dieselgate scandal was a landmark first for corporate greenwashing fines of this magnitude.
Banking and financial firmsDWS (#3), Goldman Sachs (#7), and BNY Mellon (#9)feature throughout due to their misleading ESG funding claims – DWS was fined most at$25 million.
Food companiesKeurig (#4) and Kohl’s/Walmart (#6)bothappear as a result of misleading packaging materials.
Oil companyEni (#5)claims that their palm oil diesel was ‘green’ cost them$5.6 million.
While not technically fines, clothing brandsH&M and Decathlonmade donations to sustainable causes after using unsubstantiated eco-friendly terms on their labels.

Here’s the ranking table of all 10 companies featured (we’ve converted the fines to US dollars for consistency):

Rank	Company	Fines/Settlements, Donations ($)	Reason for fine
1	Volkswagen	$34.69 billion	Implementing software that falsified data and helped evade emissions tests on its vehicles
2	Toyota	$180 million	Delayed sharing of emissions-related reports
3	DWS	$25 million	Potentially marketing ESG funds as ‘greener’ than they actually were
4	Keurig	$12.2 million	Making misleading claims about its single-use coffee pods, suggesting they were recyclable when recyclers don’t widely accept them
5	Eni	$5.6 million	Claiming its palm oil diesel was ‘green’
6	Kohl’s & Walmart	$5.5 million (combined)	Both claimed their products were made from environmentally friendly bamboo when they were made from other materials
7	Goldman Sachs	$4 million	Failing to follow ESG investment policies and misleading its customers
8	BNY Mellon	$1.5 million	Failures to implement ESG policies and overstating the ESG value of its funds
9/10	Decathlon &H&M	$530,000 and$430,500 (donations)	Technically, these were donations made to sustainable causes by the companies due unsubstantiated claims on their labels

The new Cleanhub report aims to help businesses understand greenwashing and the consequences, detailing each company case, highlighting the fines they received, the reasons why, and how they responded.

Please read it here:https://blog.cleanhub.com/greenwashing-examples

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategyhas become a key part of modern businesses, with98% of CEOs in 2023 stating that it was crucial to their roles. However, as this increases, so do cases of corporategreenwashing.

Two-thirds of US businessesadmitted to greenwashing last year, which if found guilty, can have dire outcomes including large fines and negative publicity that turns customers off.9 in 10 consumersrecently stated that it’s important to them for businesses to act in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

Authorities worldwide are introducing more legislation and penalties to deal with greenwashing. At the start of 2024, theEuropean Unionadopted a new lawto stop these practices. In October 2023, theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission imposedharsher reporting standardsaround ESG funds, and in November, theUK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)published it’s new general anti-greenwashing rule that requires financial firms to ensure that their labelling is fair, clear and not misleading.

CleanHub’s Vice President of Marketing,Nikki Stones, had this to say on the rankings:

“Given how substantial these fines are, it’s clear that regulators are trying to send a message to companies. The days of quiet punishments are over when it comes to greenwashing — brands that intentionally mislead consumers over green initiatives will be severely penalised moving forward.We expect to see more greenwashing fines in the coming years too, with new EU legislation on the horizon. To swerve these penalties, companies need to make sure all of their environmental claims and initiatives are transparent, truthful, and are backed up with evidence.”