“greenwishing”: a avaliação de impacto b como ferramenta de combate ao greenwashing nas organizações

Abstract

The collective acknowledgment of society over climate change and the impact of different sectors in the aggravation of this scenario has risen in the last decade. With that, the consumers are more attentive to the production of the goods they consume, giving priority to the ones coming from organizations that supposedly have more sustainable practices. While aiming to reach this competitive advantage, corporations have invested in trying to have a “greener” image for its public; however, in many cases, the real practices adopted by such companies do not correspond to what they publicize. The B Impact Assessment, elaborated by the B Lab organization, has the mission of helping companies to assess, compare, and improve their impact areas. The goal of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the B Impact Assessment as a tool to combat greenwashing practices. The research methodology is characterized as inductive, qualitative, descriptive, and documental. The data was collected through sources distributed through B Lab itself, such as: the general FAQ of the organization, the B Impact Assessment FAQ, the platform where the assessment is completed, and the webinar “How to become a B company”. The method used to clean and analyze the data was content analysis. As a result of the study, it was possible to describe and characterize the three main pillars of the B Impact Assessment: Assess, Compare, and Improve. Among other results, it was possible to identify what are the criteria used on the elaboration of the questionnaire responded by each company, which areas of impact are evaluated, how they score the assessment, and what are the resources offered by B Lab during the process. Furthermore, to evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment in face of the greenwashing practices, it was compared to the index board created by Pagotto (2012), as a way to understand if the assessment covered all the points mentioned by the author. With this analysis, it was concluded that even though the assessment can support companies that are trying to direct their effort towards having more positive impact as a result of their practices, it is not possible to affirm that a good score assessment by itself is proof that the company does not engage in greenwashing practices.