Sustainability or greenwashing? The role of Life Cycle Assessment in the ESG narratives of the agrifood sector

Corporate sustainability is generally communicated by organizations in their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports, in which they publish information about their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, many ESGs are often self-reports that may be partially truthful, thus falling under ‘greenwashing’, a strategy that aims to create a positive public image by falsely declaring the sustainability of one’s operations. This could be particularly critical in the agri-food sector, which generates around 17.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year (35% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions). Therefore, companies could be recommended to use quantitative methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with which to identify their emissions and communicate them objectively to stakeholders. In light of this, this research aims to analyze whether and to what extent the LCA is present in the ESG narratives of agrifood companies globally, and to understand whether they might therefore fall into greenwashing practices. For this, the Global Fortune 500 agri-food companies, the world’s top five hundred companies by revenue, were considered. The results show that LCA is still little used by agri-food companies, with only 1/4 of the sample considered (8 out of 30 companies) using it. This is indicative of how companies are still particularly reluctant to show their emissions, as they may contradict their sustainability narratives, and this may reinforce the belief that many companies are not making significant efforts to engage in sustainability strategies but are increasingly encountering greenwashing