Policy‐Level Environmental Architecture and Corporate Renewable‐Energy Transition

ABSTRACT Corporate renewable‐energy transition is often assessed through climate commitments, ESG scores, or carbon indicators, although these measures may not reveal firms' capacity to translate formal policies into operational change. Using a newly assembled point‐in‐time panel of European listed companies drawn from the STOXX universe over 2015–2025, this study constructs a holistic environmental‐management architecture score comprising resource/nature and climate/energy management pillars. The common estimation samples contain 1161 firm‐year observations from 264 firms for the 1‐year horizon and 869 observations from 215 firms for the 2‐year horizon. Firm and fiscal‐year fixed‐effects models relate environmental‐management architecture in fiscal year to subsequent changes in renewable‐energy use over and , complemented by pillar‐level and component‐level decompositions, alternative fixed‐effects structures, and sector exclusions. The holistic architecture score is positive but imprecisely estimated. Resource/nature management is positively associated with subsequent renewable‐energy improvement at both horizons, whereas climate/energy formalization is not. Water‐efficiency policy is marginally significant at the 1‐year horizon and statistically significant at the 2‐year horizon. The findings show that formal environmental policies do not carry uniform information about operational transition and highlight the value of examining policy domains and implementation‐related organizational routines separately.