Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101665Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • We study the effect of female directors on renewable energy consumption of US firms.

  • The percentage of female directors increases renewable energy consumption.

  • There need to be at least two female directors for this effect to be observed.

  • The interaction of gender diversity and renewable energy increases firm value.

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of board gender diversity on renewable energy consumption. Using a panel of 11,677 firm-year observations from the USA for 2008–2016, we find a positive relationship between board gender diversity and renewable energy consumption. Moreover, boards require two or more women for women to have a significant impact on renewable energy consumption, consistent with the critical mass theory. Further, we document that the positive impact of female directors on renewable energy consumption stems from female independent rather than female executive directors. Finally, we find a positive effect of the interaction between renewable energy consumption and board gender diversity on firm financial performance. Our findings are robust to different identification strategies and estimation techniques.

Keywords

Corporate governance
Renewable energy
GBoard gender diversity
Corporate social responsibility
Environmental protection
Global warming

JEL codes

G30
G34

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