Corporate environmental governance scheme and investment efficiency over the course of COVID-19

Crisis and environmental governance decisions amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from European countries

This study investigates the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on environmental governance decisions within publicly listed European companies. It utilizes a comprehensive analysis of publicly available data regarding these firms and check the environmental governance practices during the pandemic, informed by risk society theory which describes modern societies marked by ongoing risks and uncertainties primarily stemming from technological and scientific advancements. The regression and robustness analysis has been performed on how companies have responded to the crisis, specifically in terms of their approaches to environmental sustainability and governance. Covid-19 has a significantly positive impact on environmental governance (EG), with a coefficient of 18.73 and a p-value of .000. Other variables like human development (HD), size, and free cash flow (FCF) positively affect EG, while corruption (Corrupt) and leverage (Lev) have a negative influence. Robust analysis confirms the negative impact of Covid-19 on EG, with a coefficient of 18.46 and a p-value below .01, consistent across different subsamples. However, it also underscores the challenges companies have encountered in upholding their sustainability efforts amid the crisis. In sum, this research offers valuable insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected environmental governance decisions, with potential implications for policymakers, regulators, and business leaders striving to advance sustainability in the post-pandemic landscape.

Research landscape of energy transition and green finance: A bibliometric analysis

This study utilizes bibliometric analysis to examine historical and present research patterns in the area of energy transition and green finance and to forecast potential future domains. Using the bibliometric method, 328 scholarly articles from the Web of Science database were evaluated. This paper identifies influential publications, maps the research landscape, and forecasts emerging tendencies through co-citation and co-word analyses. Co-citation analysis found three main clusters, while co-word analysis revealed four main clusters. Despite the growing significance of research on energy transition and green finance research, further in-depth investigation is necessary to offer a thorough depiction of the research domain. This research represents a pioneering endeavour in the utilization of bibliometric analysis to investigate the interrelationship between two items. It offers valuable insights into the rapidly expanding field of energy transition and green finance, effectively highlighting its contours and indicating potential future developments.

Corporate Sustainability Development Strategy and Corporate Environmental Governance-The Moderating Role of Corporate Environmental Investments

Environmental degradation and ecological devastation have become widespread global concerns in recent years as a result of the expansion of the international economy. China's rapid economic development has been accompanied by a sloppy economic growth model that has damaged the local ecological environment. The Chinese government intends to improve the ecological environment by the end of 2020 in an effort to direct and improve these environmental issues. The strictest environmental laws became effective in 2015. In light of this, this research uses panel data analysis to examine the environmental strategy and environmental governance of Chinese corporations. This article analyses 14,512 samples of listed mainland Chinese enterprises from 2015 to 2020. This research investigates the connection between Corporate Sustainability Development Strategy and Corporate Environmental Governance, as well as the moderating effect of Corporate Environmental Investments.

Does CSR governance matters for corporate value creation: exploring the nexus between corporate sustainability governance and investment efficiency of acquirers in Pakistan

This study examines the potential effects of corporate sustainability governance on the investment efficiency of asset acquirers. Using secondary data gathered from the annual reports of sample firms and the global reporting initiatives data repository from 1991-2021, the study results indicate that the provision of sustainable governance better facilitates the efficient allocation of capital and acquirer's value creation. Subject to the individual effects, we find that the economic sustainability disclosure, social sustainability disclosure, and environmental sustainability disclosure have positive and significant effect on the investment efficiency of acquirers that increases the competitiveness of a company's investment. Outcomes further revealed that market risk disclosure and shareholder activism have a strong moderating impact on the relationship between sustainability governance and acquirers efficiency, which significantly complements the acquirer's value. The study findings put forward policy directions that the enforcement of persistent sustainability governance practices has more potential to maximize acquirer's investment.

Impact of multiple performance feedback and regional institutional development on enterprises' exploratory innovation

With the increasing uncertainty in the external environment, exploratory innovation has gradually become the key path for enterprises to obtain core competitiveness and achieve sustainable growth. According to the behavioral theory of the firm, performance feedback is an essential driving factor affecting corporate innovation decisions. However, previous studies have ignored the consistency or inconsistency between historical and industry performance feedback, and its impact on exploratory innovation. Based on the data of Chinese companies listed from 2008 to 2019, this paper explores the impact of consistency and inconsistency between historical and industry performance feedback on enterprises' exploratory innovation. In the cases of consistency, this study finds that the scenario of historical performance shortfall-industry performance shortfall is more likely to promote enterprises' exploratory innovation than the industry performance surplus-historical performance surplus; in the cases of inconsistency, compared with historical performance surplus-industry performance shortfall, the scenario of historical performance shortfall-industry performance surplus is more likely to promote enterprises' exploratory innovation. Further research shows that regional institutional development enhances these relationships. This study enriches the driving factors of enterprises' exploratory innovation from the perspective of multiple performance feedback, which can provide decision-making references for enterprises' exploratory innovation strategies.

Green Credit Policy and Corporate Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence From China

Using the promulgation of Green Credit Guidelines in China as the research setting, this paper exploits a quasi-natural experiment to examine the impact of green credit policy on the stock price crash risk of heavy-polluting firms. The results show that green credit policy significantly increases the risk of stock price crash of heavy-polluting firms. Such impact is transmitted through increased financial constraints and reduced information transparency. In addition, we find that the impact of green credit policy on the stock price crash risk is more pronounced in firms with weak external governance and a small size. Our findings provide policy implications for mitigating corporate risks and promoting corporate sustainability.

Dynamic Corporate Governance, Innovation, and Sustainability: Post-COVID Period

Recent complex changes of the organizational environment urge the boards of directors of energy corporations to step up quickly in crises (e.g., COVID-19) and foster innovation, to seize new strategic opportunities (e.g., environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments). The purpose of the study is to provide in-depth analyses of ESG projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, through the lens of an emerging theoretical approach, dynamic corporate governance (CG). The research is built on the multi-case study method at large energy companies and energy startups. The research goal was to empirically analyze theoretical opportunities of dynamic board behavior in this research context. The major findings show that ESG projects faced serious challenges in the fast-changing organizational environment generated by COVID-19, which induced board intervention regarding innovation, networks, and organizational changes. This study is among the first to offer a novel theoretical viewpoint, by integrating CG and strategic management theories, besides the already dominant financial and reporting aspects. From a practical perspective, our conclusions might direct the attention of boards of directors toward innovation, networks, and organizational changes, in order to enable adaptation in turbulent times and increase sustainability in the social and environmental dimensions.