GREEN SIGNALS OR STRATEGIC NOISE? CORPORATE REPORTING INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT THROUGH L.I.G.H.T. INDEX. A MULTI-CRITERIA COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
GREEN SIGNALS OR STRATEGIC NOISE? CORPORATE REPORTING INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT THROUGH L.I.G.H.T. INDEX. A MULTI-CRITERIA COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Andreea IURAȘ, Victoria BOGDAN
1 Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timișoara, Timișoara, Romania
2 Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
andreea.iuras00@e-uvt.ro
vbogdan@uoradea.ro
Abstract: Recent research investigates whether political connections serve to reduce or increase the tendency of corporate greenwashing. Additionally, studies on climate reporting indicate that lobbying activities misaligned with climate commitments act as counter-signal affecting the credibility of disclosures and erode stakeholders’ trust in corporate governance transparency. A significant research gap in literature is the lack of utilization of publicly available data from evaluation platforms as standardized external sources for assessing greenwashing, rather than relying solely on traditional CSR/ESG reports and specific agencies rating ESG scores. In this context, the study introduces a transparency index for evaluating the greenwashing risk, named Longitudinal Integrity & Green-Hurdle Transparency (L.I.G.H.T.) Index. This index is designed to assess the coherence among climate support, transition governance, climate performance, Climate Action 100+ transparency, and the estimated proportion of green revenues. The L.I.G.H.T. Index was empirically tested through a multi-criteria comparative analysis of three leading companies within the beauty and self-care industry. The results indicate a low risk of greenwashing for Unilever, a moderate risk for L’Oréal, and a high risk for Estée Lauder. The main contribution of this empirical study lies in its innovative approach of integrating positive alignment scores with explicit penalties for internal inconsistencies among key indicators. In this framework, greenwashing is conceptualized as a misalignment between corporate signaling, governance practices, and the economic structure underpinning the green transition. Although climate capital expenditure (CapEx) was explored as a variable, it was ultimately excluded from the central scoring due to the unavailability of fully comparable public data across all three companies. Overall, the L.I.G.H.T. Index offers a robust tool for stakeholders seeking to assess the integrity and transparency of corporate climate strategies.
Keywords: greenwashing; LobbyMap; TPI; Climate Action 100+; Green revenue; ESG; L.I.G.H.T. index.
JEL Classification: M41; Q56; M14.
