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Board gender diversity, environmental committee and greenhouse gas voluntary disclosures

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  • Ishmael Tingbani
  • Lyton Chithambo
  • Venancio Tauringana
  • Nikolaos Papanikolaou

Abstract

We explore the impact of gender diversity and environmental committees on greenhouse gas (GHG) voluntary disclosures utilising a sample of 215 firms, which are listed on the London Stock Exchange market. We provide strong evidence for a strong positive association between GHG voluntary disclosures and gender diversity, which constitutes an important input to the ongoing debate about the role of women in the boardroom. The governance mechanism of environmental committees is not found to significantly affect GHG disclosures. This adds to the growing empirical evidence in the literature that questions the effectiveness of the current board structures in serving the wider needs of stakeholders and in addressing the relevant issues on climate change. Overall, our results suggest that by being diverse and open to a mixed‐gender governance approach, a firm can better serve the demands of stakeholders and legitimise their green credentials, thus gaining more trust from a broad range of stakeholders other than their shareholders. The noneffectiveness of the environmental committees in enhancing GHG voluntary disclosures demonstrates that firms may not have to directly link the relevant governance mechanism to their disclosure decisions and practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Ishmael Tingbani & Lyton Chithambo & Venancio Tauringana & Nikolaos Papanikolaou, 2020. "Board gender diversity, environmental committee and greenhouse gas voluntary disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2194-2210, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:29:y:2020:i:6:p:2194-2210
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.2495
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