Sustainability Committee and ESG Performance: A Worldwide Evidence

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationship between the sustainability committee and ESG performance. ESG performance is divided into three categories: ESG rating, ESG controversies, and ESG materiality. This research utilizes data from all companies worldwide listed in MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), obtaining 1860 observations collected for the years 2022 and 2023, reflecting post-Covid-19 conditions. The least-squares regression analysis model was employed in this study. The results of this study show that the sustainability committee has a positive and significant impact on ESG ratings and materiality. Additionally, the research provides further analysis by examining differences in board tier systems, profit-loss status of firms, developed versus developing countries, and conducts robustness testing using methods such as coarsened exact matching, firm clustering test, and Heckman two-stage to corroborate the results. This study does not utilize ESG performance proxies based on disclosure but employs a more complex ESG performance proxy, namely ESG ratings, ESG controversies, and ESG materiality based on data from MSCI.