Corporate Greenwashing in Indian Society: Reimagining Legal Accountability for Sustainable Business Practices

Abstract

The world is moving slowly towards achieving the goal of sustainable development. Since corporations are perhaps one of the key offenders and culprits behind the deteriorating condition of the environment in contemporary times, they are often being pressured to become green in their operations. Corporations at times indulge in malpractices in the form of falsely claiming that their business operations or products are eco-friendly and does not harm the wildlife. They pretend that the technology and the products being manufactured by them are non-hazardous to the environment and wildlife as well as  they advertised the same through various modes with the view to build goodwill in the public and to satisfy earn money by enhancing customer base. This practice of making false claims regarding sustainability and eco-friendly nature of the products as well as services rendered by the corporations is often regarded as Greenwashing. This practice erodes public trust. Greenwashing is slowly becoming a critical issue in the Indian market as corporations have started misleading the customers about the environmental performance of their project, product or service for luring them to invest in them. This illicit business practice has become a great hurdle in ensuring sustainable development of the state. The present paper tries to analyze the position of existing Indian laws like Environmental Protection Act, 1986,  the Consumer Protect Act, 2019 and Companies Act, 2013 etc. for dealing with the issue of Greenwashing. The authors also sought to make certain recommendations for taking effective legal action towards such practices.