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Greenwashing of Local Government: The Human-Caused Risks in the Process of Environmental Information Disclosure in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yanhong Tang

    (School of Public Administration and Law, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China)

  • Rui Yang

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Yingwen Chen

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Mengjin Du

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Yichen Yang

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Xin Miao

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

Abstract
The increasing occurrences of greenwashing pose great risks to environmental protection. The current studies mainly focused on corporate greenwashing, and few paid attention to the greenwashing of the local government (GLG), thus lacking methods to identify the risks of forming the GLG and finding practicable countermeasures. This paper tries to fill the research gap in the study of the GLG by analyzing human factors. Given that the GLG is in close relationship with environmental governance pressures related to environmental information disclosure (EID), this paper attempts to analyze the human-caused risks of forming the GLG in the process of EID. This work focused on the process analysis, examined the human causes that form the GLG in the stages of collecting, medium, and disseminating of environmental information (EI), and offered countermeasures embedded with resilience accordingly.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanhong Tang & Rui Yang & Yingwen Chen & Mengjin Du & Yichen Yang & Xin Miao, 2020. "Greenwashing of Local Government: The Human-Caused Risks in the Process of Environmental Information Disclosure in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6329-:d:395385
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaoya Zhu & Yunli Zhu & Xiaohua Meng, 2021. "Government Environmental Information Disclosure and Environmental Performance: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Andrew Osei Agyemang & Kong Yusheng & Angelina Kissiwaa Twum & Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba & Maxwell Kongkuah & Mohammed Musah, 2021. "Trend and relationship between environmental accounting disclosure and environmental performance for mining companies listed in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12192-12216, August.
    3. Rui Yang & Yingwen Chen & Yiqun Liu & Yuchen Feng & Jianwan Ji & Christina W. Y. Wong & Xin Miao & Yanhong Tang, 2023. "Government–business relations, environmental information transparency, and Hu-line-related factors in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 7215-7238, July.
    4. Dejan Glavas & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2023. "Greening the greenwashers – How to push greenwashers towards more sustainable trajectories," Post-Print hal-03908838, HAL.

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