This thesis explores the alignment between corporate climate commitments and climate lobbying behaviour among Dutch companies, by focusing on identifying lobbying-related greenwashing. In times where companies are seen as key players in combating the climate crises (European Commission, 2023), it is crucial that corporate climate lobby is aligned with their companies’ green commitments. Climate lobbying can significantly affect regulatory outcomes, so lobbying in favour of more stringent climate legislation would positively impact climate-related regulatory outcomes (Errichiello et al., 2025).
To examine this underexplored issue of lobby-related greenwashing, the research develops and applies a qualitative framework. This framework expands the framework of Nemes et al. (2022) and existing literature. Six categories of potentially misleading lobbying behaviour are included: (1) Direct lobbying against climate policy, (2) Affiliations with obstructive organisations, (3) Use of astroturf lobbying, (4) Symbolic communication through voluntary initiatives, (5) Undisclosed policy influence (revolving doors) and (6) Undisclosed influence in standards-setting.
The framework was applied through qualitative content analysis to six Dutch companies from different industries. These case studies were constructed using 2022 data from CDP disclosures, LobbyMap, the EU Transparency Register, corporate annual reports, and grey literature.
The study finds that the framework effectively captures a wide range of lobby-related greenwashing behaviours. Dutch companies in the sample were all greenwashing ranging from a moderate to a very high degree. Particularly indirect lobbying emerged as a common form of greenwashing, related to affiliation in trade associations and involvement in voluntary initiatives. Thus, while many companies publicly commit to supporting the Paris Agreement, their political actions often fail to reflect these commitments.
The framework can help scrutinise companies’ lobby behaviour, also beyond this research. The empirical outcomes are a first step towards an understanding of lobbying-related greenwashing in the Dutch context. Practically, they urge companies to align their indirect lobby strategies with their climate commitments. Without such alignment, their contribution to halting climate change remains severely limited.
Future research could build on the developed framework and findings. For example, by validating the framework and its categories through expert and company interviews, expanding case studies to cover more sectors and geographies, and refining the scoring system to incorporate weighting and greater nuance in assessing the degree of misalignment.