The relationship between female board, board size and carbon emissions of listed firms from Thailand

Purpose This study aims to investigate the level and pattern of corporate carbon emission of Top100 listed firms from Thailand and to test for a possible relationship between board characteristics and corporate carbon emissions in Thailand. Design/methodology/approach Board characteristics and corporate carbon emissions are collected by Top100 listed firms from the Stock Exchange of Thailand during 2020 to 2022. Panel regression analysis is used to test the impact of board characteristics on carbon emissions, while robustness test by two stage least square instrumental variable approach is used to mitigate the endogeneity issue. Findings We find a negative relation between female board and carbon emissions, while there is a positive relationship between board size and carbon emissions. We document that an increase of board gender diversity reduces carbon emissions, while an increase of board size increases corporate carbon emissions. Moreover, we find that board independence, tenure and CEO duality have no effect on carbon emissions. Our findings are robust to endogeneity concerns as our 2SLS analyses confirm the main findings. Originality/value Strategic decision to reduce carbon emissions is to structure boards with increased number of female representation and smaller board size in total.