Women’s power: how do female executives promote corporate low-carbon performances

Abstract

As gender equality and low-carbon development have become pressing social issues, researching how gender diversity among corporate executives influences a company’s low-carbon performance can help advance social progress and corporate sustainability. This study analyzes 5,413 Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2024 to examine the impact of female executives on corporate low-carbon performance and the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, this study explores the nonlinear relationships among these factors. The results indicate that the presence of female executives generally contributes to reducing corporate carbon emissions. Notably, a U-shaped relationship is observed between the proportion of female executives and corporate carbon emissions, suggesting that there is an optimal range for female executive participation in corporate low-carbon performance, and that achieving a more balanced gender structure is more beneficial. Mechanism analysis indicates that female executives enhance corporate low-carbon performance by fostering green awareness among executive teams, and this effect is amplified in highly competitive markets. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that the emission-reduction effect of female executive participation is influenced by firm size and ownership structure, with more pronounced effects observed in large enterprises and state-owned enterprises.

Keywords

Female executives / firm’s low-carbon performance / executives’ green perceptions / market competitiveness

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