Gender diverse board, environmental committee, and renewable energy: an insight from UNSDG 7

Abstract

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) 7 calls on member nations to increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. In this context, we investigate the role of gender-diverse boards in promoting the use of renewable energy, as well as the mediating role of environmental committees in this relationship. We use a sample of 4056 firm year observations of firms listed on London Stock Exchange over the period 2013 - 2022. To test the hypotheses, we applied ordinary least squares regression analysis and further applied generalized method of moments estimation and two stage least squares analysis to check the robustness of the results. Drawing on insights from agency theory and resource dependence theory, we find that due to their stronger oversight and ethical considerations, gender-diverse boards are positively associated with the use of renewable energy in our sample firms. Furthermore, our results indicate that environmental committees partially mediate the relationship between gender-diverse boards and renewable energy use. Our study contributes to the gender diversity literature by highlighting the positive role of female directors and environmental committees towards environmental practices, such as the use of renewable energy. Moreover, we contribute to the emerging literature on the role of female directors in promoting the implementation of energy-related goals and targets outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Keywords Gender diversity, environmental committees, renewable energy use, agency theory, resource dependence theory

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ORCID for Collins Ntim: orcid.org/0000-0002-1042-4056

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