Renewable energy use, slack financial resources, and board attributes: Does energy efficiency policy matter?

Abstract

This study examined the impact of slack financial resources, board characteristics (such as gender diversity, tenure, and skill/expertise), and energy efficiency policies on firms' consumption of renewable energy. Using a dataset of 17,753 observations from 2002 to 2019, we primarily utilized fixed‐effects regression, among other methods, for robustness analysis. We find that while slack financial resources, board gender diversity, and energy efficiency policies are positively associated with more renewable energy consumption, board skill is negatively associated with it. Interaction effects showed that firms with more female and tenured directors effectively utilize slack financial resources for increased renewable energy consumption, unlike firms with more expert directors. Energy efficiency policies enhanced the positive impact of female directors on renewable energy consumption but mitigated the influence of expert directors, weakening their association.