This study examines the impact of environmentally oriented investments on firms’ integration into global value chains (GVCs). We use firm-level data in 41 countries from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey dataset and control for selection and endogeneity bias. Our findings reveal that the adoption of environmental protection actions boosts firms’ participation in GVCs. Measures reducing air pollution, followed by waste minimization techniques and energy management tools, yield the highest impact at both margins. Larger firms are more likely to experience a rise in their chances of participating in GVCs compared to their smaller counterparts. At the sectoral level, dirty sectors (such as plastics, construction and chemicals) are less likely to witness the positive impact of environment-friendly measures on GVC integration, given their production techniques that are CO2 and energy intensive. Finally, at the regional level, the effect of such environmental measures is more pronounced for firms located in European Union countries.

This study examined the impact of green human resource management (GHRM) and green supply chain management (GSCM) on the economic, social, and environmental performance of 272 (ISO-certified) textile firms in Pakistan. It investigated how a firm's size and the number of years since adopting GSCM practices influence performance. Survey data were collected from these firms through a cluster sampling approach and then analyzed through structural equation modeling. Results highlighted that GHRM positively influences a firm's environmental and social performance. Results further indicated that inbound and outbound GSCM activities mediate between GHRM and a firm's environmental and social performance. The moderation results revealed that a firm's size is crucial for improving performance. From an emerging economy perspective, this study draws the attention of policymakers and managers, concluding that implementing GHRM improves the green orientation of all the departments within a firm and helps organizations achieve sustainability goals.

This study examines the effect of board gender diversity (BGD) and sustainability committees on environmental performance. Using a quantile regression approach and a sample of publicly listed firms in Italy, we find that BGD and sustainability committees have different effects on firms' environmental performance over different points of conditional distribution. This shows that BGD and sustainability committees have greater quantitative impact in firms performing better environmentally and are positively related to environmental performance. We further discover that large Italian firms that reach a critical mass of three female directors maintain a stronger attitude towards environmental sustainability. Overall, the results confirm that BGD and sustainability committees enhance board effectiveness and help promote sustainable environmental initiatives. This study provides empirical evidence from a context that has not yet been investigated. It further augments the literature by employing a quantile regression approach, mostly unexamined by previous studies.

The formalization of environmental issues has gained prominence since the definition of sustainable development by the Brundtland's report. Environmental performance has then been introduced to qualify the “green” contribution of an organization to its surrounding environment. However, its multi-dimensional aspects can be problematic when designing projects and making decisions, especially in the infrastructure sector where industrial activities are the most polluting ones. The aim of the study is to fill the environmental gap and confusion for decision-makers on the understanding of environmental performance, as well as to communicate on it, to define and share a clear vision and targets. A literature review is conducted and confronted with an industrial example in the railway sector to analyze the existing misunderstandings in industries while approaching environmental issues. By proposing and setting a clear framework of environmental performance, this research contributes to the conceptualization of environmental performance. More precisely, it characterizes an environmentally performant design project, in order to consider environmental performance as a driver and catalyzer of value creation.

In this article we provide a comprehensive framework to explain, in China and in Western countries, how three antecedents – regulations, stakeholder norms, and managerial mindsets – differently affect proactive environmental strategies (PES) and subsequently influence firm performance. A meta-analysis of 68 studies involving 71 samples supports our hypotheses. In Western countries, top managerial mindsets have the strongest effect and regulations have the weakest effect on PES. In China, regulations, stakeholder norms, and managerial mindsets have similar effects on PES. For Western firms, the PES has stronger effects on environmental performance than on economic performance and the effect on environmental performance is stronger than that in Chinese firms. For firms in China, the PES has equally positively affects on environmental and economic performance, but the effect on economic performance is stronger than that of Western firms. Implications for future research are discussed.

Few studies to date have addressed the relationship between the food industry's environmental and financial performances although the industry is one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. We analyze the impact of environmental news about selected food companies on their stock prices. Results show that positive (negative) events that are the result of direct internal company actions lead to higher (lower) predicted returns, whereas events related to third-party opinions lead to smaller changes in predicted returns in short event windows. This study highlights the importance of conducting the analysis on a disaggregated basis by incorporating firm-level variables.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are a relatively new economic policy instrument, and the factors that drive and explain their environmental performance are poorly understood. Here a meta-analysis of causal relationships between the institutional design and environmental performance of 47 payments for watershed services (PWS) schemes worldwide showed a significant effect on environmental achievement of the terms and conditions of scheme participation, including the selection of service providers, community participation, the existence and monitoring of quantifiable objectives, and the number of intermediaries between service providers and buyers. Direct payments by downstream hydropower companies to upstream land owners for reduced sediment loads were identified as a successful PWS example. No other significant explanatory factors, such as specific type of watershed service, age or scale of implementation of the PWS scheme were detected. The results are highly dependent on the reliability of the input variables, in particular the measurement of the environmental performance variable. Despite efforts to find quantitative information on the environmental performance of existing PWS schemes, such empirical evidence is lacking in many of the schemes studied. International monitoring guidelines are needed to facilitate comparisons, identify success factors and support the future design of cost-effective PWS schemes.