A communication method that uses misleading, unsubstantiated, or exaggerated ecological claims to project an environmentally responsible image that does not reflect the company's actual practices.
In the game: This is the core of your score. The gap between your public image and your real data.
The total volume of greenhouse gases expressed in CO₂ equivalent actually released into the atmosphere by an organisation's direct and indirect activities. Unlike marketing claims, it cannot be manipulated.
In the game: The transparent indicator of Verdant Group's real impact on the planet.
An indicator designed to assess a company's consideration of environmental, social, and governance criteria. Rating agencies often assign it based on self-reported data, opening the door to methodological manipulation.
In the game: The score shown to investors to maintain the share price - sometimes far removed from the real footprint.
Emissions accounting boundaries: Scope 1 covers direct emissions, Scope 2 includes purchased energy, and Scope 3 encompasses the entire upstream and downstream value chain. Scope 3 typically represents between 65% and 90% of a company's total impact.
In the game: Ignoring or concealing Scope 3 allows you to present an artificially green balance sheet.
Purchasing credits supposedly funding CO₂ reductions elsewhere to mathematically cancel out your own emissions. Many of these projects are dubbed ghost credits because they overestimate avoided deforestation without generating any real climate benefit.
In the game: Widely used practice to announce a carbon neutrality target without reducing emissions by a single gram.
Carbon neutrality is often an accounting trick based on purchasing carbon credits. In contrast, a genuine Net Zero target requires a real, absolute reduction of at least 90% of emissions across all scopes, with offsets limited to unavoidable residual emissions.
In the game: A crucial distinction championed by the group's scientist against the communications team.
A reporting technique that selects as a comparison point a historical year when the company's emissions were at their peak. This allows spectacular reductions to be displayed without any real structural effort.
In the game: Adjusting the reporting methodology can temporarily reassure the board of directors.
The movement of an executive from the private sector to a public regulatory body or sustainability consultancy, or vice versa. This fosters conflicts of interest and the weakening of climate rules from within.
In the game: One of the major alternative endings, leading to the player's golden parachute.
European law banning generic environmental claims without scientific proof, as well as carbon-neutral-type statements based solely on carbon offsetting.
In the game: If your legal risk gauge explodes, this is what catches up with you.
The European Union's official classification system that strictly lists economic activities scientifically deemed sustainable, in order to channel investments towards genuine transition.
In the game: A major regulatory turning point to face in the 2020s.
An independent body responsible for certifying and validating emissions reduction plans proposed by companies, verifying whether they are aligned with a pathway to limit warming to 1.5°C.
In the game: Obtaining SBTi certification brings strong credibility, but failing to follow the trajectory exposes you to a media backlash.
An official suite of interactive tools and spreadsheets designed for organizations to mathematically model, test, and align their emission reduction targets with net-zero pathways.
The global standard platform providing cross-sector emission factors required to accurately measure corporate greenhouse gas data and scientifically validate net-zero pathways.
The official United Nations Climate Change hub establishing global frameworks, tracking non-state entity commitments, and defining strict international criteria to prevent corporate greenwashing.
An open-access database containing real-world UK adjudications against corporate advertisements banned for misleading environmental claims and greenwashing.
The Competition and Markets Authority's official enforcement roadmap designed to protect consumers from deceptive environmental marketing practices and penalize corporate offenders.
A non-profit financial think tank investigating and exposing corporate greenwashing tactics, specifically analyzing the misalignment between capital allocation and sustainability rhetoric.
A global collective of PR professionals and students push companies to sever ties with fossil fuel clients, offering tools to detect and reject corporate climate disinformation.
Global investigative reports exposing major corporate entities in finance, aviation, and energy that leverage phantom carbon credits to mask operational emissions footprint.
The United Nations global framework and baseline report ('Integrity Matters') set clear red lines to stop greenwashing in non-state entity net-zero pledges.
Rigorous annual scientific evaluations assessing the transparency, integrity, and hidden flaws of major global corporations' climate strategies and carbon offset claims.
The Green Wash is a newsgame in which you play as Head of CSR at Verdant Group - a fictional conglomerate - for 20 years, from 2004 to 2023. Your mission: navigate between genuine environmental action and corporate communications, manage three types of risk, and avoid one of five possible endings.
Greenwashing is one of the most widespread and least penalised practices in the corporate world. Behind the green campaigns, carbon neutrality pledges, and ESG scores lies a far more complex reality - one of institutional pressures, methodological choices, and deliberate ambiguity.
This game grew from a simple conviction: making these mechanisms visible and understandable to everyone, not just corporate sustainability experts.
Every scenario is inspired by documented real-world cases - investigative reporting (The Guardian, Die Zeit), EU directives (Directive 2024/825), academic studies (MIT, Harvard), and regulatory enforcement decisions. The characters are composites. The dilemmas are real. The possible endings are grounded in patterns that have already played out.
It is not a moralistic game. It does not claim that every decision is easy, or that everyone working in CSR is cynical. It is an invitation to understand why companies make these choices, what pressures drive them, and where regulations have - or haven't - made a difference.
Forked from The Good, The Bad and The Accountant by Journalism++.
I am an ordinary citizen, not a certified expert in sustainability, environmental law, or corporate communications. The Green Wash grew from personal curiosity, reading, and amateur research over several years.
If you spot a factual error, an imprecise scenario, an oversimplification, or a questionable formulation, please let me know. I take corrections seriously and will update the content accordingly.
If you have documented cases you'd like to see included, sources to share, ideas for new scenarios, or feedback on the gameplay - I'm genuinely interested. The game is meant to evolve.
Please write in French or English. I cannot guarantee a fast response, but I read every message.