Riskwashing

Definition

Riskwashing is neologism and portmanteu word that has been used recently to characterise Risk Management pathodologies,

In analogy with the old term Whitewashing and the more recent Greenwashing, riskwashing is meant to suggest that an entity or entities intentionally engage in practices that obscure risks or risk factors that affect them or others, typically to avoid the implications of such recognition.

Riskwashing may affect any of the formal areas of organized risk management practice:

• In Risk Identification, avoid the full identification, classification and enumeration of the various risks that an organization is facing
• In Risk Measurement, avoid the unbiased quantification for the risks to an organization is facing
• In Risk Mitigation, avoid the reduction or elimination of perceived risks through the exercise of available options

The precise mechanisms to achieve riskwashing vary depending on the domain (the factual Risk Profile), the Risk Culture of an entity, societal / regulatory environment etc.