Exhaustive definitions of greenwashing can create more issues than they solve as they risk market paralysis or regression because of excessive reputational or litigation fears. We propose a focused definition of greenwashing for financial regulatory purposes while also noting that regulators are demonstrating that existing laws and regulations can address any serious misrepresentation in sustainable finance. Reviewing existing data and studies on potential greenwashing, we find that greenwashing is not prevalent in the green bond market, but that ambition and materiality in the early development of the new sustainability-linked bond market may have been insufficient. Market feedback and our research based on reported controversies and Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) alignment points, however, to a positive trend in the sustainability-linked bond market in the last 12 months. We concur that wider concerns in the sustainable fund industry exist, for example, regarding investment methodologies and fund naming. […]