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All Things Internal Audit

Greenwashing and Internal Audit: Governance, Risk, and the Growing Regulatory Crackdown

In this episode, Ahmed Sharif Hawky and Emmanuel Pascal discuss why greenwashing is no longer just a reputational risk, but also a governance and assurance challenge. Together they break down how greenwashing qualifies as legal misrepresentation, why most control environments are far weaker than leadership realizes, and what a practical audit approach looks like — from mapping sustainability claims across channels to using data analytics and intensity ratios to test what companies report and what they don't.

Host:

Ahmed Sharif Shawky, CIA, CPA

CEO, SustainGRC

Guests:

Emmanuel Pascal, CIA, CRMA, CFE

CEO, Condor Strike
Member, Committee of Research and Education Advisors, Internal Audit Foundation

Key points

  • Introduction [00:00-00:00:50]
  • Defining Greenwashing [00:00:50-00:02:14]
  • Political Backlash vs. Regulatory Reality [00:02:16-00:03:21]
  • Greenwashing as Misrepresentation [00:03:24-00:06:13]
  • Global Greenwashing Regulations [00:06:13-00:07:16]
  • Greenwashing as Value Fraud [00:07:22-00:11:07]
  • Assessing Greenwashing Risk [00:11:14-00:13:49]
  • Green Strategy and Red Flags [00:13:50-00:14:48]
  • Using Data Analytics to Test Sustainability Claims [00:14:48-00:18:10]
  • Building a Strong Control Framework [00:18:13-00:19:27]
  • Internal Audit’s Approach to Greenwashing Risk [00:19:27-00:20:58]
  • Training Auditors on Sustainability [00:20:58-00:21:52]
  • DWS Greenwashing Case [00:21:52-00:23:42]
  • 2026 International Conference Promo [00:23:47-00:24:18]
  • Closing [00:24:25-00:24:34]