Standard Chartered manages greenwashing marketing risk

Standard Chartered has enhanced its policies, processes, and controls to ensure risks associated with greenwashing in its marketing materials are managed.

In its interim results for the first half of 2023, the London-listed bank warned shareholders that “key stakeholders” are more keenly scrutinising how banks promote themselves on environmental and social impact issues.

The company warned of “an increase in stakeholder expectations around fair and balanced disclosures, including marketing campaigns,” adding that scrutiny around greenwashing had accelerated due to regulatory developments, such as the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent consultation on anti-greenwashing rules.

The update to investors follows a similar warning from KPMG issued a few weeks earlier, which urged clients to “be proactive in mitigating the risk of allegations of misleading statements or greenwashing to avoid enforcement action and complaints.”

Justine Sacarello, UK Legal ESG Lead at KPMG, said marketers should ensure they are familiar with the Competition and Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code alongside guidance from regulatory bodies.

“Ideally, the voluntary, as well as anticipated mandatory, corporate disclosure regime should enable asset managers, financial advisers, and investors to access ‘reliable, comparable and verifiable information’,” she said.

“The SEC takes a different approach to greenwashing by enforcing existing rules rather than introducing new ones. Time will tell which is the most effective approach. Unfortunately, from an ESG point of view, time is another resource which is quickly running out.”