A wolf in sheep's clothing, or a wolf clothed in green? From carbon-neutral labels to promises of sustainability, businesses are increasingly positioning themselves as environmentally responsible.
But when those claims do not match their actions, the practice becomes what is widely known as greenwashing.
First coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westerveld, who observed a hotel encouraging guests to reuse towels while simultaneously engaging in large-scale land clearing - the idea quickly expanded beyond resorts.
Throughout the 1980s and early 2000s, environmental messaging became an increasingly common feature of corporate advertising. Oil and gas companies sold a vision of pristine landscapes, while others wrapped their investments in 'eco-friendly' packaging. In 2015, Volkswagen would become one of the companies synonymous with the darker side of this approach, after its Dieselgate scandal exposed the gap between environmental messaging and real-world action.
More recently, companies like BHP have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 - a commitment that has raised eyebrows given the company's ongoing investment in emissions-heavy industries.
As scrutiny of greenwashing grows, new Macquarie University research suggests that corporate deception is moving beyond public relations and into recruitment decisions.
Le Luo, Associate Professor in the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance at Macquarie University, explored the growing demand for green-skilled workers, particularly in senior sustainability leadership roles.
Much as Westerveld had decades earlier, Associate Professor Luo questioned whether those commitments were translating beyond corporate messaging into meaningful change.
"What we were seeing was that policies such as the AASB standards and the emission trading scheme, actually require someone within the firms that have the environmental expertise.
"As we observed this increase in the demand for green hiring, we were also interested to know if these companies have better environmental outcomes.
Contrary to what might be assumed, whether a company had a sustainability executive at the top was not the driver for positive outcomes. Instead, the research suggested that environmental expertise had a greater impact when embedded throughout an organisation.
"We found that this positive association is stronger when this environmental expertise is distributed across a wide range of occupations," says Associate Professor Luo.
"Similarly, we found that if firms only hire from the top, or only concentrate on the management level, this positive association is weakened and is more likely to be symbolic.
"Ultimately, if you want to reduce emissions or improve the outcomes, you always have to have the substantive actions that are also implemented by those lower-level occupation roles. Green hiring without responsibly embedding an approach is just marketing - that's not enough."
A further challenge is that many companies lack the financial resources to turn the genuine goals behind green hiring into change. Associate Professor Luo says this can place smaller businesses under greater pressure.
"In looking at the carbon-intensive sector and the large and the smaller firms, we do find that the smaller firms do face financial constraints to implement these substantively, which resulted in weaker results."
That is not to say smaller firms can't take environmentally friendly steps forward. While large-scale transformation may not happen all at once, building stronger governance systems can provide a foundation for broader change over time.
"They have to think long term rather than short term," Associate Professor Luo explains.
Ultimately, the question doesn't just come down to whether companies are talking about sustainability, but whether those commitments are being built into the fabric of an organisation - one hire at a time.
"I think in the future the employees may need to have dual skills, both functional but also green skills - that is where we will see the most effective and preferable outcomes," says Associate Professor Luo.
"If they want to make real-world impacts and changes, they can't just hire from the top. They have to invest the expertise in the lower levels, so they can support strategy implementation."
Are you a business owner? Associate Professor Le Luo's work is connected to Macquarie University's Nature Positive Finance and Business Research Centre , which provides research-based insights to help businesses, policymakers and investors manage environmental risk and embed sustainability into decision-making.
