There are increasing pressures for women on corporate boards (WOB) from diverse stakeholders such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, Fortune and FTSE rankings and best places for women to work lists.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score/index. Specifically, the study shows the impact of women on corporate boards (WOB) on carbon emission issues in the global perspective by using Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) data from 2011 to 2013 for 331 companies in 33 countries in 12 geographical locations.

The key finding of the study reveals a significant positive impact of WOB on CDP score/index. In addition, this study also shows significant effect of board size, asset size, energy consumption, and Tobin’s Q on CDP score/index.

These findings offer insights to policy makers to implement gender quota legislation. The study has important implications for putting into practice good corporate governance and in particular, gender diversity.

The outcomes of analyses advocate that companies that included women directors and with a smaller board size may expect to achieve a higher level of carbon emission performance and to voluntarily disclose the level of carbon information assessment requested by the CDP.

Hossain, M., Farooque, O. A., Momin, M. and Obaed, A. (2017). “Women in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Climate Change Related Disclosure”. Accepted in the Social Responsibility Journal, DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-11-2016-0208.