Corporate governance and ecological investments. The case of French industry

IF 6.6 2区经济学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Economics Pub Date : 2025-03-28 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108588

Simon Nadel, Magali Savès

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study examines the links between corporate governance and ecological investment decisions, focusing on arrangements aimed at democratizing decision-making: integration of new actors in decision-making processes, the development of ecological competencies within the firm, and the introduction of sustainability criteria into its management. Our study is based on an original database of 1788 establishments, representative of French manufacturing industry establishments with more than 20 employees. We use a Heckman selection bias model to demonstrate that corporate governance arrangements associated with the initiation of ecological investments differ from those linked to their intensification. We contribute to the discussion on workplace democracy and its relation to the ecologizing of firms by exploring various combinations of corporate governance. Our study highlights the complex relationship between ecological investments and governance arrangements aimed at democratizing corporate decision-making. While the formal integration of employees and external stakeholders into decision-making processes does not positively correlate with ecological investment, the adoption of sustainable management tools appears to play a critical role in mitigating the tensions observed. This suggests that structural reforms in corporate governance must go beyond symbolic employee integration and focus on creating the conditions necessary for meaningful collaboration and alignment of ecological and labor interests.

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来源期刊

Ecological Economics 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

5.70%

发文量

313

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership. Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.