Climate change threatens the future of the next generations and is already causing widespread destruction in the present through an increasing number of natural disasters. A new model of production and consumption based on sustainability is required, especially in the fashion industry-the second most polluting sector in the world. Therefore, in order to determine whether these companies contribute to people's and the planet's well-being, it is necessary to understand their practices. To this end, we analyse the sustainable practices of the sector by studying the ten most responsible fashion companies according to the BoF Sustainability Index, that is based on the methodology of content analysis applied to case studies. To do this, we have defined a taxonomy of the ten most common sustainability strategies and practices: stakeholder engagement, strong governance and transparency, decarbonisation, biodiversity conservation and restoration, circularity, reducing waste and pollution from the use of plastics, eliminating hazardous chemicals, preserving water quality, diversity, equity and inclusion policies, supply chain responsibility, and supporting the communities in which companies operate. The results show that major business groups have integrated axes into their sustainability strategies that address the industry's primary social and environmental challenges. These plans are based on ambitious goals that go beyond stakeholder demands and the generation of economic benefits.

Climate technologies aim to reduce CO2 emissions in order to mitigate the effects of global warming. In this paper, we analyse whether the disruptive events that we have been experiencing since 2020 (specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine) act as drivers of firms' investment in climate technologies, and whether the institutional environment of the European Union also does so. For a sample of 5,376 firms for the period 2016-2022, we find that firms' investment in climate technologies is higher in disruptive periods. Moreover, we observe that this effect is smaller than the driving effect of the EU institutional environment on firms' engagement in the fight against climate change and investment in climate technologies.

This study investigates the impact of CEO power on circular economy disclosure (CED), highlighting the moderating role of institutional pressures on CEO discretion. The analysis draws on a sample of 8354 multinational companies from the Refinitiv database, covering the period 2013-2022. The sample includes companies from 74 countries and 11 economic sectors. By developing a novel indicator to measure CED, the research shows that CEO power negatively affects transparency, particularly in waste management and resource circularity. This study also examines how coercive and normative pressures-stemming from regulatory frameworks and societal expectations-influence CEO decision-making. The findings advance the literature by integrating three theoretical perspectives: (i) agency theory, which explains how concentrated CEO power reduces disclosure by sustaining information asymmetry; (ii) stakeholder capitalism theory, which demonstrates that CED responds to the expectations of diverse social and economic groups; and (iii) institutional theory, which shows how these expectations are reinforced through coercive and normative pressures that enhance accountability.

This paper examines the relationship between family ownership and investment decisions, and the effect that a family CEO has on these decisions. Efficiency in the allocation of capital investments has an impact on economic growth and productive capacity. We find that family control acts as a monitoring tool that enhances investment, bringing it to an optimal level. We also show that a family CEO with blood ties improves investment decisions in a family firm. This study confirms the positive effect of managerial ability on investment decisions in family firms and supports the moderating role of family CEOs in achieving optimal investment decisions under able managers. The results provide a valuable refinement to family-firm literature by analysing the role of family CEOs in moderating the influence of able managers. As far as we know, this is the first paper that addresses investment decisions, managerial ability and family CEOs in family firms.

In a macroeconomic environment characterised by systemic disruptions and global uncertainty, companies are forced to reconfigure their sustainability strategies. This study examines the combined impact of geopolitical and climate risks on corporate commitment to and actual progress toward the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a comprehensive analysis of 5537 companies in 48 countries between 2017 and 2023, we document a consistent and positive relationship. Our findings emphasise the relevance of geopolitical and climate risks, such as macro-level shocks, that have a strong effect on corporate policies to address the major challenges facing our society. Furthermore, our theoretical contribution unravels the internal governance mechanisms that moderate this response, demonstrating that CEO power intensifies the strategic reaction to geopolitical instability, while exerting a substitutive effect in the face of climate risk, revealing how leadership structures manage resource tensions between crises of different natures. The findings are robust across various methodological specifications and reveal that companies that have signed the UN Global Compact demonstrate superior progress. From a practical standpoint, our findings provide managers and investors with analytical guidance to anticipate operational disruptions, diversify resources and justify sustainability investments not only as a moral imperative but also as a key tool for corporate survival in the face of fragmented global markets.

This paper aims to analyze the effect of board tenure on firms' waste management disclosure and explore whether this effect is amplified by board gender and cultural diversity. The analysis is based on data from 832 large firms worldwide from 2011 to 2020. We draw on a multi-theoretical framework combining the Upper Echelons Theory (UET), Resource Dependence Theory (RDT), and the Resource-Based View (RBV) as our main theoretical underpinnings and complementing them with entrenchment theory, gender socialization theory (GST), and imprinting theory. The results indicate that board tenure positively affects waste management disclosure and that board diversity strengthens the direct impact of tenure on the waste information firms disclose to stakeholders. These results are robust to variations in methodological specifications. Additionally, the amplifying role of the health crisis triggered by the COVID pandemic is identified.

It is vital for society to understand the climate ambitions of corporate leaders, as the commitments and actions they promote to address global warming can help create a more sustainable future for all. Furthermore, the endeavour to attain net zero will engender an irrevocable transformation of business as we know it. In this paper, we assess how companies respond to climate change, using a score that measures their strategic and operational efforts to achieve net zero emissions. For a balanced data panel of 5047 international companies in the period 2015–2022, our evidence shows that firms led by able CEOs present an upper level of implementation and progress with their climate action plan, better anticipating global challenges. In the case of less able CEOs, their interest arises as a response to solutions proposed for economic recovery or new needs in terms of energy management, derived from the disruptive events in the period 2020–2022, or appears in a company with stronger governance mechanisms that limit the CEO’s discretion.

Over the last decade, eco-innovation has become a strategic pillar of business competitiveness. However, its financial impact is currently being affected by a global environment marked by unprecedented systemic uncertainty. This study contributes to finance literature by analyzing how geopolitical risk affects the profitability of green investments. It hypothesizes that international geopolitical tensions disrupt the mechanisms through which eco-innovation influences operational performance. Using a sample of 5744 companies and 48,015 observations from 2014 to 2024, we find that eco-innovation exerts short-term pressure on corporate profitability but becomes especially valuable as a resilience mechanism in periods of high geopolitical uncertainty.

Corporate sustainability has become a strategic priority in response to growing regulatory, social and environmental pressures, placing greater emphasis on governance structures, such as board composition, that shape the incorporation of ethical and sustainable values into corporate decision-making. In this context, this study analyses the influence of gender diversity on boards of directors on eco-innovation in products and processes, also examining the moderating role played by the environmental orientation of the organisational system. To this end, an international sample of 5340 companies from the Refinitiv Workspace database during the period 2016-2023 is used. The results show that a higher proportion of women on boards of directors significantly drive eco-innovation in products and processes, while organisational environmental orientation has a positive effect on companies' innovative capacity. However, there is a negative moderating effect between the two variables, indicating a substitution relationship. Likewise, factors such as company size, liquidity and profitability reinforce the propensity to innovate environmentally, while global events between 2020 and 2023 acted as drivers of sustainable strategies. These results underscore the importance of integrating diversity into senior management and consolidating organisational structures committed to sustainability, creating a governance framework capable of generating environmental innovation, resilience and long-term sustainable value.

This study examines the relationship between assurance provider rotation and sustainability assurance quality using an international sample of 604 companies over the period 2011-2017. We find that provider rotation is positively associated with both breadth and depth of assurance statements, suggesting that switching assurers is linked to higher overall sustainability assurance quality. However, when companies switch from nonaccounting to accounting providers, assurance quality decreases, particularly in statement breadth and to a lesser extent in depth. Additional analyses indicate that these rotation effects reflect structural heterogeneity between provider types rather than dynamic improvements following a switch, with quality benefits emerging gradually as new assurers establish their engagement approaches. The findings advance understanding of how market structure and provider characteristics shape sustainability assurance quality and provide timely insights for standard setters and regulators developing new frameworks for sustainability reporting and assurance.

Purpose - This study aims to investigate whether and how assurance quality mitigates sustainability decoupling, understood as the misalignment between corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and disclosure. Drawing on legitimacy theory, it explores whether high-quality assurance functions as a substantive mechanism that enhances transparency and credibility in sustainability reporting or a symbolic tool aimed at managing stakeholders' perceptions. Design/methodology/approach - The analysis relies on a panel of 717 European companies (6,925 firm-year observations) from 2014 to 2023. A panel Tobit model with random effects was estimated, complemented by robustness checks using linear regression with fixed-effects, random-effects and generalized method of moment estimators. Findings - The results reveal that higher assurance quality - characterized by broader scope, comprehensive content, higher assurance level, multi-method approach and use of recognized standards - significantly reduces ESG decoupling, supporting the substantive legitimacy perspective. Originality/value - This study enriches the literature on sustainability decoupling by examining assurance quality as an external accountability mechanism and extends the application of legitimacy theory to sustainability assurance practices.

Controversies, news about inappropriate corporate behaviour from an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) perspective, published in the media, put companies in a delicate situation and represent a reputational risk that can have a negative impact on firm value. In this paper, we analyse whether and under what conditions this type of negative news leads to business decisions aimed at ensuring stakeholder confidence, such as engaging assurance services for ESG information, and we determine the impact that this decision may have on the image and value of publicly questioned companies. The results obtained for a sample of 1149 multinational companies, of which 888 have engaged external assurance, show that controversies have favoured this decision, which improves the reputation, stakeholder engagement and market value of companies, being slightly affected by negative news about corporate actions related to customers, shareholders and investors, and employees.

Multinational companies are increasingly under pressure to integrate decarbonisation into their business models as a sign of climate leadership and as a strategy for their long-term value. Institutional investors play a key role in this, both directly, by influencing the adoption of decarbonisation strategies, and indirectly, by promoting climate governance mechanisms within companies that facilitate the implementation of decarbonisation initiatives and strategies. Analysing a sample of 4,956 companies from 2015 to 2022, we find that institutional investors positively influence companies' decarbonisation strategies through both direct and indirect channels. Although this is not affected by institutional investors' investment horizon or objectives, some types of institutional investors, in particular cross-holdings, financial institutions and pension funds, strengthen governance frameworks and promote more ambitious climate strategies. These findings underscore the critical role of institutional investors in driving corporate climate action, and highlight the need for policymakers and corporate leaders to consider investor-driven governance structures as a lever for accelerating decarbonisation.

Does corporate CO2 abatement pay? We assembled an international panel of listed firms (2019-2023), linking Scope 1-2 emissions to institutional (G7, CCPI) and search-based attention measures. The dataset consists of an unbalanced panel of 1724 multinational firms, together with a sub-sample of 922 firms operating in G7 economies. Firm and time fixed effects, dynamic system-GMM, and Granger tests indicate that reductions in operational CO2 are followed by higher returns on assets, with larger effects in G7 markets. National climate ambition (CCPI) does not reliably amplify profitability. By contrast, the information environment moderates payoffs: in G7 economies, ecological-risk attention amplifies the abatement-performance relationship, whereas climate-crisis attention weakens it, despite a modestly positive main effect. Results are robust with alternative abatement measures, though a binary specification produces weaker results outside the G7. The sum of the evidence indicates that decarbonisation is a value-creating capability whose payoff is mediated by attention rather than headline policy. Implications for managers, lenders, investors and regulators follow: credibility, disclosure quality and enforcement shape returns on cuts CO2.

ABSTRACT The 2015 Paris Agreement established an international commitment to limit global warming to 1.5°C, which requires climate neutrality through deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. In pursuit of this goal, companies worldwide are adopting decarbonization strategies that are increasingly aligned with principles of transparency and accountability. This study examines a sample of 6575 large global companies to analyze the impact of board gender diversity on climate‐related disclosures. Our findings show that the presence of at least one female director increases corporate transparency regarding decarbonization targets, timelines, strategic levers, and performance metrics. Thus, this study challenges the critical mass theory by demonstrating that even a single female director adds unique value in promoting sustainability transparency. Furthermore, we show that contextual factors—such as industry environmental sensitivity, regional regulatory frameworks and climate‐related business opportunities—moderate the influence of female directors on decarbonization transparency. These findings advance corporate governance and sustainability research by providing a multidimensional understanding of how board gender diversity drives transparency, particularly in sustainability‐sensitive industries and regulatory environments. On a practical level, the findings highlight the strategic value of gender‐diverse boards for managers, investors, and policymakers seeking to enhance corporate accountability and align with global sustainability goals. By underscoring the transformative role of female directors in promoting transparent and responsible corporate practices, this research contributes actionable insights to the transition to a net‐zero economy.

This paper presents a study on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies create value amongst family and non-family firms. Additionally, in our study, we considered the moderating effect of independent directors on the relationship between CSR and firm value. Based on data drawn from companies operating in 61 countries over an 11-year period (i.e. from 2010 to 2020), our findings demonstrate that non-family firms derive market benefits from the governance improvements made by independent directors concerning CSR strategies. In contrast, the CSR strategies promoted within family firms are associated with lower firm value. However, this negative association is neutralised by the role played by independent directors, especially when the company is controlled by succeeding generations and not just by the founding one. These directors play a dissuasive role that leads family members to reassess their external socio-emotional preferences (reputation, image, etc.) in order to uphold the internal priorities of day-to-day decision-making. Our study has important implications for research and practice.