Del ‘greenwashing’ al ‘greenhushing’: los gigantes de la inversión tapan la apuesta ecologista en Estados Unidos
The new U.S. administration has launched an institutional crackdown on sustainable investing, forcing massive fund managers to abandon their environmental commitments out of fear of lawsuits. This political shift, driven by right-wing narratives against what they label “woke,” seeks to impose strict neutrality by eliminating pressure on companies to reduce their carbon footprint or improve diversity. This legal pressure creates a hostile environment in which investors fear being sanctioned for prioritizing ESG criteria over pure financial performance. As a direct consequence, the phenomenon of “greenhushing” is being exacerbated, with companies deliberately concealing their green initiatives to avoid regulatory scrutiny. This silencing is the flip side of greenwashing, a systematic deception in which corporations exaggerate their environmental credentials to project a false image of responsibility. In the United States, a paradox now exists: companies are criticized both for excessively promoting sustainability and for hiding it, generating uncertainty and opacity in corporate communications about their actual impact. This transatlantic divergence underscores the relevance of greenwashing in the global debate: while Europe consolidates its leadership and consensus on green investing, the United States is retreating, creating a disconnect between political rhetoric and market demand. Experts warn that this U.S. reorientation is artificial, as climate risk remains a genuine financial threat that investors cannot ignore in the long term. The true significance for greenwashing lies in how political pressure can silence genuine practices or encourage concealment, hindering transparency and allowing “eco-posturing” to persist without adequate scrutiny.
Source: elpais.comPublished on 2025-03-04