OP GREENWASH
The bank's greenest program has a map problem.
A sustainability-linked loan AI approves four times as many loans in two wealthy districts. The sustainability report goes to print in 72 hours with its numbers inside.
All companies, people, and incidents in The Black Box Files are fictional; any resemblance to real ones is coincidental. This is an educational training aid, not legal advice, not a compliance certification, and not an audit. The techniques draw on real research: AI Fairness and Accountability: case file.
For educators: objectives and framework mapping
Act 1: The Call
- Compare a published program claim against raw approval geography; state the gap plainly.Measure 2.9, Govern 4.2 | Art. 10 | Risk assessment
Act 2: The Wrong Suspect
- Rule out the obvious suspect with evidence; identify sampling bias in training data.Map 5.1, Measure 2.3 | Art. 10 | Bias and fairness, Data governance
Act 3: The Data
- Demonstrate proxy reconstruction with the Ledger X-Ray; explain how model outputs become marketing claims.Measure 2.1 | Art. 9, Art. 11 | Bias and fairness, Transparency
Act 4: The Squeeze
- Decide under deadline pressure with legal exposure on the table.Govern 4.2, Manage 1.1 | Art. 27 | Accountability
Act 5: The Verdict
- Assemble the finding: mechanism, why it matters, who is responsible, what must change.Govern 5.1 | Art. 11 | Accountability, Transparency
Open the companion article: why this case matters, with real cases and primary sources
Case questions
Questions about this case
Is Lakeshore Mutual Bank a real bank?
No. Every company, person, and incident in this case is fictional. The patterns, proxy reconstruction and sustainability claims outrunning model evidence, reflect publicly documented problems.
Is this case about ESG?
It is an investigation into a lending model inside a sustainability program. The lessons are about fairness, data integrity, and governance; the setting is green finance.
Do I need to sign up or install anything?
No. The case runs entirely in your browser, with progress stored on your own device.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is an educational investigation. Nothing here is legal advice, a compliance certification, or an audit.