Does Gender Diversity Affect the Environmental Performance of Banks?

Clara Gallego-Sosa, Yakira Fernández-Torres and Milagros Gutiérrez-Fernández
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Clara Gallego-Sosa: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
Yakira Fernández-Torres: Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Faculty of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Therefore, all segments of society must act together to stop the deterioration of the planet and the depletion of its resources. The business sector must play an active role in acting responsibly toward the environment. Given the importance of this issue, major efforts have been made to analyze the environmental performance of the most polluting sectors. In contrast, other sectors that are also of great interest due to their contribution to sustainable development, such as the banking sector, have been overlooked. Notable factors conditioning performance include aspects of corporate governance such as gender diversity. However, the empirical evidence reveals a lack of consensus regarding the influence of women directors on corporate environmental performance. This background motivates the study of the commitment of the banking sector to reducing their environmental impact and the analysis the influence of board gender diversity on environmental performance. Data for the period 2009 to 2018 on 52 banks from the most polluting Western regions were studied using descriptive statistics and fixed effects econometric estimation to test the relationship between a selection of relevant variables. The key conclusions are that banks are committed to protecting the environment and that there are no significant differences between banks’ commitment to the planet on the basis of board gender diversity.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; environmental performance; climate change; gender diversity; board of directors; banking sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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