How green is your board? Board Structure and corporate environmental performance

Objectives. The present paper aims at exploring the relationship between firms’ board structure and their green performance, within the agency theory and resource dependence theory frameworks, in order to outline if particular types of board directors could act as a stimulating driver for firms’ environmental performance. Methodology. The theoretical analysis is completed by an empirical exploration, performed by two linear regression models, on a sample of Italian and Spanish firms included in the CSRHub database in 2015. Findings. Our findings provide nuanced evidence that boards do affect firms’ environmental performance. We reported in fact a positive relationship between the presence of non- executive directors in the board and companies’ environmental performance; while the critical mass of women directors and the percentage of independent directors, together with board size, do not seem to be related with firms’ green performance. Research limits. The study employs a sample with a limited number of observations. Moreover, a longitudinal analysis will probably provide more confidence in the findings. Practical implications. The results allow to identify the characteristics of the board that may foster and enforce firms’ environmental performance. Moreover, socially responsible funds could find useful, for their portfolio allocation strategy, to know if there are types of directors more oriented to green issues. Originality of the study. There is a lack of literature on the theme. The study is one of the few attempts that is not focused on Anglo-Saxon countries or single developing countries and that concentrates on environmental issues, instead of CSR.