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As financial firms incorporate impact strategies more extensively into their operations, they are asked to sustain their impact claims and thus face increased risks of regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits from private and public parties. The lack of reliable frameworks to measure impact gives rise to phenomena like impact washing, leading to litigations. This article aims to explore the main factors contributing to the impact litigation risk and the mechanisms employed by practitioners in the impact investing field to navigate and address this challenge.

We conducted semi-structured interviews involving three impact investors and three impact lawyers with specific knowledge of ESG and impact controversies, adopting the Gioia Methodology for the analysis. We triangulated such information with the analysis of secondary data.

The “great noise” around the impact investing world and the rise of impact washing, the lack of shared standards for measuring impacts and the misalignment of interests among actors involved in the initiatives constitute a potential “litigation bomb”. Such a scenario is detrimental to an investment strategy, which has the potential to tackle societal issues.

This study represents an initial effort to connect the academic debate on impact litigation with the expert’s active “on-field” standpoints. The identified and validated drivers of impact litigations provide valuable insight to enhance the governance and accountability of impact investing. Implementing Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) tools, participatory governance models, clear impact-focused contracts and a proactive approach could serve as prospective solutions to mitigate the risk of disputes.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the research which has been done during the past three decades on the topic of green advertising and identify gaps for future research.

The methodology that has been adopted for analysis is two-pronged – the first being a literature review with tabulation of data using excel sheets and bar graphs and the second being a bibliometric review using the software VOSviewer. Both approaches analyze the number of citations, keywords, authors, journals and countries. A database of 113 articles from 1990 to 2020 is generated from Web of Science.

Major contributors to the topic of green advertising research have been identified. Thematic classification is created to understand the subtopics of green advertising. Under this classification, nine subtopics have been identified. Six core research gaps have been identified for future research in the area of green advertising.

The study helps identify where green advertising research is being conducted, its growth potential and future prospects. This research work will enable the industry to gain new insights into this emerging field of green advertising for incorporating the same in their advertising campaigns in view of growing consumer concerns on environment.

The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of research in green advertising. The paper is unique as it is the only review on the topic of green advertising. Given the increasing trend of going green among consumers, the paper adds tremendous value to the field of green advertising.