Do corporate sustainability initiatives improve corporate carbon performance? Evidence from European firms
Do corporate sustainability initiatives improve corporate carbon performance? Evidence from European firms
We contribute to the business strategy and the environment literature by investigating the influence of corporate sustainability initiatives and corporate carbon performance of European listed firms. We use three-way fixed-effects model, and our sample comprises of 2,444 firm-year observations from 12 European countries, covering a 16-year period (2004-2019). First, we find that corporate sustainability initiatives, a composite measure comprising of emission reduction initiatives, environmental innovations and efficient use of resources, has a positive relationship with corporate carbon performance, in terms of reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity. Second, we find that the relationship between corporate sustainability initiatives and corporate carbon performance is stronger for firms in polluting industries. Overall, our evidence lends support for the efficiency-oriented arguments of the neo-institutional theory in that organisations respond to climate related risks by making substantive engagements in corporate sustainability initiatives, such as emission reduction initiatives, environmental innovations and efficient use of resources, which in turn facilitates organisations’ effort to reduce GHG emission and improve corporate carbon performance.
GHG emissions, climate change, corporate environmental performance, corporate sustainability initiatives, efficient use of resources, environmental innovations, environmental policies, neo-institutional theory
3318-3334
Haque, Faizul
8153d83c-427a-4f73-860d-dd7e9460533d
Ntim, Collins
1f344edc-8005-4e96-8972-d56c4dade46b
November 2022
Haque, Faizul
8153d83c-427a-4f73-860d-dd7e9460533d
Ntim, Collins
1f344edc-8005-4e96-8972-d56c4dade46b
Haque, Faizul and Ntim, Collins
(2022)
Do corporate sustainability initiatives improve corporate carbon performance? Evidence from European firms.
Business Strategy and the Environment, 31 (7), .
(doi:10.1002/bse.3078).
Abstract
We contribute to the business strategy and the environment literature by investigating the influence of corporate sustainability initiatives and corporate carbon performance of European listed firms. We use three-way fixed-effects model, and our sample comprises of 2,444 firm-year observations from 12 European countries, covering a 16-year period (2004-2019). First, we find that corporate sustainability initiatives, a composite measure comprising of emission reduction initiatives, environmental innovations and efficient use of resources, has a positive relationship with corporate carbon performance, in terms of reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity. Second, we find that the relationship between corporate sustainability initiatives and corporate carbon performance is stronger for firms in polluting industries. Overall, our evidence lends support for the efficiency-oriented arguments of the neo-institutional theory in that organisations respond to climate related risks by making substantive engagements in corporate sustainability initiatives, such as emission reduction initiatives, environmental innovations and efficient use of resources, which in turn facilitates organisations’ effort to reduce GHG emission and improve corporate carbon performance.
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BSE (2022) Corporate Sustainability Initiatives and Corporate Carbon Performance_AAM
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Accepted/In Press date: 30 March 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 April 2022
Published date: November 2022
Keywords:
GHG emissions, climate change, corporate environmental performance, corporate sustainability initiatives, efficient use of resources, environmental innovations, environmental policies, neo-institutional theory
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 456413
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/456413
ISSN: 0964-4733
PURE UUID: 0e5c155b-64a9-459e-8c3c-fa76a61ab2a6
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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2022 16:35
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:06
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