The Role of Diversity on the Environmental Performance and Transparency

Global warming and climate crisis are increasing their effects day by day. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put forward by the United Nations (UN) are the result of efforts to put sustainability on the agenda of the whole world. 17 goals serve the idea of a better world, not only environmentally but also socially. Even though the goals are seen as separate, all the goals are related to each other. While SDG 5 Gender Equality, and also SDG 10 Reduce Inequalities focus on eliminating gender-related disadvantages, it can also pave the way for disadvantaged groups to contribute in accordance with other goals with their different personal characteristics than men, by ensuring equal opportunities for the genders. For example, when women, who are more sensitive to environmental problems, take part in the decision-making bodies of companies, the environmental activity results of the enterprise may be more positive. To analyze this situation, we used 14-year data of 166 businesses traded in the US and Europe. We analyzed the diversity measures (board size-BS and women ratio on board-WOB ratio) and environmental performance results data and retested the results we reached. In this study, we focus on the E score and analyze the relationship in the short and long term, since the previous literature focused heavily on ESG scores and the results differed. The results show that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between BS and the ratio of WOB in the long run, although not in the short term.


Introduction
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are titles created with the aim of protecting the planet, ensuring social peace and increasing welfare.The 17 goals are focused on environment (E) and delivering natural resources to future generations, while ensuring social and economic development.
Undoubtedly, achieving the goals depends on the adoption of all parties and their implementation towards the targets.For this reason, it is important that the goals are adopted by businesses as well as states and individuals.
Some of the businesses tend to act in accordance with the goals by legal obligations or voluntarily.On the other hand, stakeholders want to know about nancial and environmental-social results of the business as non nancial results of the business (Eccles et al., 2011;Baldini et al., 2018;Carroll, 1999).Society does not only expect affordable and quality products or services from businesses.Just pro tability ratios do not make sense for stakeholders in today's world.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development (SD) underlie this expectation expansion (Giannarakis et al., 2014).
Businesses that are good at CSR practises do not just meet stakeholder demands, also get other gains: Competitive advantage (Mc Williams and Siegel., 2006;Porter and Kramer, 2006), organizational commitment (Brammer et al., 2007) employee satisfaction (Bauman and Skitka 2012), cost and risk reduction (Adams et al., 2004), reputation (Adams et al., 2015) accountability (Hill et al., 1992), legitimacy (Patten, 2002) and better internal control system (Adams et al., 2004).Because of all these earning opportunities, CSR has emerged as an inevitable priority for the business world.
Businesses share their CSR practices with stakeholders through sustainability reports, press releases, etc. methods they try to communicate.It becomes di cult to compare CSR practices of enterprises due to the different presentations made by enterprises.That's why so many organizations (Bloomberg, KLD, MSCI, EIRIS…) rate businesses' CSR practices as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) score.Although the applied scoring methodologies are questioned from time to time, the calculated scores are generally accepted and followed by many people.
Practitioners and researchers focus on to nd ways to increase rms' CSR performance.Some of them directed their attention to "Board of Directors-BOD".Board is the management and monitoring mechanism of rm (Miller, 2003).According to Hill and Jones, CSR and accountability are other liabilities of board (1992).So, board structure is a crucial point of rm's CSR vision and applications.
Researchers generally directs their attention to relation between ESG scores and nancial results of rm (Galbreath et al., 2013).Understanding the link between nancial and non nancial results of operations is crucial, but CSR is more than being an instrument of pro tability.CSR is another "headline".So, It is necessary to focus on the relationship between the structure of BOD and the ESG (Byron et al., 2016).
While there are many variables related to diversity of the board, this study focus on board size (BS) and woman member ratio of board.The variables have chosen are on the agenda of many regulatory authorities and international organizations.The UN SDG 5 "Gender Equality", SDG 10 "Reduced Inequalities" are goals that emphasize diversity and women's representation.Within the scope of the Gender equality (SDG-5) goal, the principle of empowering all women and girls is adopted.With the goal of Reduced Inequalities (SDG-10), it is expected that income inequalities in the society will be brought to a minimum.Within the scope of these objectives, companies should adopt an attitude that protects gender equality, supports the equal number of female senior executives to the number of male executives, and supports the fair distribution of income.
The theme of the UN International Women's Day in 2022 has been determined as "gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow".UN Chief Antonio Guterres demonstrate that; women must be at the centre of solutions for a sustainable planet where women bear the disproportionate burden of the impacts of the climate crisis (UN,

2022).
The European Commission attaches importance to CSR practices in line with the UN goals.The Commission also aims to ensure social diversity in board structures.Compared to 2010, the proportion of female members increased and the ratio is nearly 29.5% in the largest publicly traded companies in EU Member States (EU, 2021).Not only developed nations, but also emerging nations are making efforts to increase the proportion of women on board (WOB) (Liu et al., 2014;Rao et al., 2016).
Although the rate of WOB has increased with the arrangements made, the fact that this situation arises from legal obligation puts women in a di cult situation.Other board members can make women feel that they are members of the board due to legal obligations and they can choose the women who always approve the decisions made by the men on the boards (Fitzsimmons et al., 2012)..Although diversity and female ratio are expected to positively affect the nancial and non-nancial results of businesses, this situation, as Fitzsimmons states, may cause the results to turn negative.
The sub-headings of ESG scores include E (Environment), S (Social) and G (Governance) scores.The main motivation for this study is to understand the relationship between board diversity and E score in short and long period.The entire data set of the study was obtained from the Bloomberg database.Bloomberg calculates the E score with the sustainability reports of businesses, annual reports, company statements, press news and various climate data (Bloomberg, 2020).Bloomberg rst calculates the E, S, and G scores and then weights these three scores to create an ESG score.(Suzuki et al., 2010).
When we examined the studies focus on the relationship between CSR and ESG, we saw that the results showed differences.Differently from previous literature board diversity's impact on E performance of rm analysed short and long term.The reliable results were obtained after different techniques applied.This study makes a contribution to the literature by analyzing the relationship between E, BS and WOB in the long and short term.
While the studies in the literature generally use the panel regression method, panel cointegration tests were employed in this research.
In addition, The majority of research in the literature use the panel regression.However, serial correlation problem usually arises in studies with panel regression models.Otherwise, as the assumption of regression models, there should be no relationship between error terms.We propose a solution to this problem by using panel cointegration tests.FMOLS method has the advantage of being able to correct for endogenity bias and serial correlation (Ozcan, 2013).To our knowledge, this is the rst study of the relationship between the board structure and the E using panel cointegration tests.Therefore, this study is important in terms of showing that the relationship between companies' other sustainability scores can be made with cointegrated panel tests.
In this way, it was ensured that the long-term interaction between the variables was observed.In addition, the degree of effect of the BS and WOB variables on the E variable in the long run was analyzed with the panel FMLOS and DOLS methods.Evaluating the long and short term relationships of these sustainability variables can contribute greatly to achieving other sustainability goals.
The sample of the study includes S&P 500 and Eurostoxx 600 companies.Since the structure of the BOD and the ESG relation is desired to be examined in the short and long term, the data of 166 companies whose data were accessed between the years 2008-2021 were used.Instead of using the ESG score, we focused on the E score and focused on the relationship between board diversity and the E.
The aim of the study is to show that company managements with more members and more female managers are more sensitive to the E. (Al-Najjar et al., 2022).In this way, the importance of polyphony in company management and the success of female managers in business life are emphasized with this article.
This study has limitations.Information on sustainability scores of companies is limited.Making these gures more accessible and transparent can contribute to more detailed research on these issues and improve sustainability.However, the currently available data is very limited both on a yearly and company basis.
The remaining paper is organized as follows.In the second part of the study, literature studies on sustainability scores, BS and WOB are included.In the third chapter, the data of the research and the working method used are explained.In the fourth chapter, the ndings of the research are shared.In the last part, the results obtained from the study were interpreted and directions were made.

Theorical Frame
"BOD is key, for successful CSR performance (Velte, 2016).There are many studies focused on the non-nancial operating results of businesses with the diversity of the BOD.These studies are generally associated with the 5 theories; stakeholder, legitimacy, institutional, resource dependence and agency theories.The main theories used in CSR research have emerged in the social sciences; from sociology, resource dependency theory (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), from economics, agency theory (Jensen et al., 1976), and from both sociology and economics, institutional theory (Di Maggio et al., 1983;Lance and Douglas, 1971).
Stakeholder theory, put forward by Freeman within the scope of business ethics focuses on the link between an organization's structure and strategies and its stakeholders (Freeman, 1994;Stieb, 2009;Roberts, 1992).The theory focuses on all stakeholders.According the theory meeting the demands of the stakeholders is the main duty of the management (Guthrie, 2006).Stakeholder theory is associated with CSR practices, for example, as it is considered an overview of strategic management.On the other hand, the theory has been criticized on the grounds that it offers various applications that are completely unrelated to CSR (Laplume et al., 2008).Still, it is also crucial because it attempts to address the often overlooked sociological question of how organizations affect society (Stern and Barley, 1995).
According to the legitimacy theory, the mutual effect between the internal and external E of the company is of vital importance.According to Ashforth and Gibbs, legitimacy is a bene t or a potential source for companies to survive and may affect the company's ability to continue its business activity (Ashforth and Gibbs, 1990).
Businesses legitimize their activities by sharing their S responsibility information (Van der Berghe and Louche, 2005).According to the theory of legitimacy, managers apply improvement strategies when there is a problem between the activities of their organizations and their S communications (Chan et al., 2014).
Resource dependence and agency perspectives are also linked with businesses' CSR applications.In previous European and American studies, Resource dependence perspective has been used to predict a positive and linear link between board diversity and CSR, and diversity has been accepted as a convenient resource.However, the relationship between diversity and CSR in different cultures requires new research (Chang et al., 2015).Contrary to this view, according to proponents of agency theory, homogeneous boards make decisions more easily and successfully (Jensen, 1993;Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978).
Institutional Theory is also associated with the structure of the BOD and the concepts of CSR.The theory focused on why different organizational structures are needed (Fernando and Lawrence, 2014).Organizational structures could be changed under the in uence of various factors (Di Maggio et al., 1983).For this reason, especially since the climate crisis is an important topic of the last 30 years, it may cause changes in the management structures.
According to Fernando and Lawrence the theories represent different points of view, but they are not contradictory.Especially 3 theories are complementary to each other on CSR issues.These theories are; legitimacy, stakeholder and institutional theories (Fernando and Lawrence., 2014).From this perspective, the focus of this research on the relationship between board diversity and environmental responsibility through these three theories.As stated in the theory of legitimacy, interaction with the internal and external E is vital for businesses.Similarly, institutional theory emphasizes the in uence of the external E on the management structure of the enterprise and states that management structures should adapt to changes in the external E.
Establishing good communication with the internal and external E on the basis of transparency and accountability by acting ethically is also important according to stakeholder theory.

Relationship between Board Size and ESG Disclosure
According to Zahra and Pearce, increasing the number of BOD provides more expertness, different perspectives, and large network (1989).On the other hand, following the agency theory, larger boards may have di culties in strategizing (Jensen, 1993).The connection between BS and the ESG has been tested multiple times to test two different views.The results show differences.
As a result of a meta-analysis, Lagasio and Cucari (2018) concluded that the increase in BS was positively associated with voluntary ESG disclosures.Allegrini  There is a study that examines the relationship between BS and the dimensions of the ESG, albeit a small number.Gürol and Lagasio, in their study on European banks, concluded that the link between BS and E score is The spread of the company management to the base and the increase in the number of managers in the company management contribute to the increase in the democratic E for the company.Polyphony in company management increases the possibility of making the right decisions and making the right investments.
Differently from previous literature this study focus on short term and long term relationship between BS and environmental performance of rm.In the light of the studies in the literature, the following hypotheses have been proposed.
The increase in the BS makes a positive contribution to E scores in long term.
H 2 : The increase in the BS makes a positive contribution to E scores in short term.

Relationship between Women Ratio of Board and ESG Disclosure
According to Eagly et al., women have different psychological characteristics than men, and these features can prevent potential con icts, strengthen the feeling of working together and increase sensitivity in social issues (Eagly et al., 2003).Attitudes of women on environmental issues are more positive than men (Dhenge et al. 2022).Studies show that women are more sensitive to the restoration of damaged nature (Mbile et al. 2019).
Brie y, women have a positive view of all issues of sustainability, and their ability to empathize can lead them to make a positive contribution to meeting the expectations of shareholders (Birendelli et al., 2018)..In addition to all these, women on the BOD can make a positive contribution to the monitoring actions of the BOD (Nguyen et al., 2015).
Increasing the WOB ratio of directors is based on both ethical and social factors and is linked to the issue of gender equality (Xie et al., 2020) Differently from previous literature this study focus on WOB ratio and E score relation.The main motivation is to shed light to women board members' impact on environmental disclosure.Following the legitimacy, stakeholder and institutional theories the following hypotheses have been proposed: The increase in the WOB ratio makes a positive contribution to E scores in long term The increase in the WOB ratio makes a positive contribution to E scores in short term 3. Methodology

Data
All companies included in the S&P500 (503 units) and STOXX Europe 600 Indices (600 units) were included in the sample of the study.However, between 2008 and 2021, all sustainability data of only 166 companies could be accessed in full.As can be seen in Fig. 3, ~ 52% (86 units) of companies are in the US, ~ 31% (52 units) in France, ~ 13% ( 22units) in Switzerland, ~ 3% (5 entries) are located in the UK and ~ 1% (1 item) are located in Denmark.

Model Estimation
Equation ( 1) was used to explain the model's validity in this study.

1
E is environment score for a company, BS is board size of company, WOB is woman on board of company in Eq. ( 1).The variable E was determined as the dependent variable.BS and WOB variables were determined as independent variables.
Taking natural logs forms all the variables (lnE, lnBS and, lnWOB).

2
where the constants α and ε is the error term.
We employ an econometric approach in ve stages to estimate Eq. ( 2).
The rst stage is to de ne the degree of integration of all the variables in the study (Saidi and Omri, 2020).For this, IPS (Im et al., 2003), LLC (Levin et al., 2002), Fisher-ADF (Maddala and Wu, 1999) tests were applied.
In the second stage, the presence of cross-sectional depency needs to be con rmed before testing for the presence of co-integration between the variables.For this, Breusch-Pagan LM, Pesaran scaled LM and Pesaran CD tests were used.
In the third stage, cointegration tests were performed to understand whether there is a long term equilibrium relationship between the variables.Pedroni (1999), Johansen Fisher (Maddala and Wu, 1999), Kao (1999) tests, which are frequently used in panel cointegration analyzes, were used to prove the existence of cointegration between variables.

E = f(BS, W OB) lnE = α + β 1 lnBS + β 2 lnW OB + ϵ it
In the fourth stage, FMLOS and DOLS tests were applied to determine the long term co-integration rectors of the variables.The FMLOS approach introduced by Pedroni (2001) provides successful results in small samples for problems with internality and autocorrelation problems in the data set (Rahman, 2020).
In this study, the FMLOS estimator was developed as follows.
3 presents the standard FMLOS estimator.Its group-mean t-statistic was calculated as per the Eq. ( 4)

4
DOLS performs better than FMOLS (Kao et.al, 2001).In addition, the DOLS equation consist of the leading and lag differences of the independent variable.It regulates for the endogenous feedback effect.It is de ned as shown in Eq. ( 5).K i and -K i present the lead and lag orders in Eq. ( 5).

5
The panel DOLS forecaster can be de ned as Eq.(6).

6
presents the tradational DOLS forecaster and it expresses to the i th member in Eq. (6).Consequently, the related t-ratio can be expressed by Eq. ( 7).

7
In the fth stage, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to test the robustness of the FMLOS and DOLS outputs.In addition, long term and short term & one-way and bi-directional causality relationships between the series included in the research were tested with VECM.
In VECM, long run causality depends on the coe cient of error-correction term (ECT t−1 ) derived from long run cointegration relationships during cointegration tests.The fact that ECT t−1 has a negative and statistically signi cant coe cient indicate the existence of a stable and long term association between the series (Ampofo et.al, 2021).Short run causality is determined by the Wald test, according to whether the lags of each of the variables in the research are signi cant.The correlation between the values shows the rst sign of the existence of the relationship between the variables.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlation
There is a weak and positive correlation (.11) between lnE and lnBS variables.In addition, there is a weak and positive correlation (.13) between lnE and lnWOB.The correlation values and the direction of the signs are compatible with literature studies and logic.These results are compatible with studies in the literature.

Unit Root Test Results
The results of IPS, LLC and Fisher-ADF unit root tests are shared in Table 4.According to the results in Table 4, the data must be stationary at level I(0) and at level I(1).

Residual Cross-Section Dependence Test Results
Table 5 shows the results of Breusch-Pagan LM, Pesaran scaled LM and Pesaran CD tests.According to the test results, all of the applied tests con rm the presence of a cross sectional dependence between the variables.. Linear deterministic trend is taken as the trend assumption and "1" values are taken as the user-speci ed lag length.

Pedroni Cointegration Test Results
Except for Panel v-Statistic and Group rho-Statistic, all panel and group tests are signi cant at the 1% level.When evaluated in general, it is seen that the result con rm the existence a cointegration asocation between the series according to the results of ve of the seven tests.According to these results, the H 0 hypothesis (H 0 : Cointegration does not exist between variables) was rejected.

Johansen Fisher Panel Cointegration Test Results
Table 7 shares the results of the Johansen Fisher panel cointegration test.Notes symbol represents that the parameters are signi cant at the 1% level.Linear deterministic trend is taken as the trend assumption and "1 1" values are taken as the lags interval.
The test results con rm the existence a cointegration relationship between the series at the 1% signi cance level.
According to these results, the H 0 hypothesis (H 0 : Cointegration does not exist between variables) was rejected.

FMLOS and DOLS Test Results
FMOLS and DOLS test are shared in Table 9.As can be seen in Table 10, ECT t−1 value is "-0.2234".This value is signi cant and negative.Our robustness test con rmed the results, as well.Therefore, it can claimed that there is a long run causility from the lnBS and lnWOB variables.lnBS and lnWOB variables have an in uence on the lnE variable.
Wald Test was used to check for short run causality between variables.According to the results in Table 11, the relations between the variables were not signi cant.Accordingly, it can be said that there is no signi cant causal relationship between lnE and lnBS and lnWOB variables in the short run.The H 0 hypothesis (H 0 : There is no granger causality) was accepted.
These results don't support to our H 2 and H 4 hypotheses.

Conclusion And Policy Direction
This research centers the link between the proportion of women, as a diversity measure on boards and the environmental impact of business activities.Although the study points to the SDG 5 Gender Equality and SDG 10 Reduced Inqualities targets of the UN, the environmental dimension is also the subject of many different targets The targets have been created to bring prosperity to the whole world and humanity without discrimination.
Responsibility for objectives rests with governments, institutions and all individuals.As a type of institution, it is of great importance for businesses to adopt UN goals and direct their activities accordingly.Here, the responsibility undoubtedly belongs to the BOD, which manages and monitors the business activities.Besides nancial targets such as pro tability, which have been in the focus for hundreds of years, the BOD should also take environmental, social and G targets as a non-nancial results.Researchers focusing on the relationship between board structure and nancial and non-nancial performance results basically try to understand the ideal board structure.
Board structures that re ect S diversity are among the goals of many organizations such as the UN and the European Commission.For this reason, women's representation in the BOD is considered extremely crucial.
Although these efforts are generally accepted as positive developments, it is seen that quota determination creates some problems for women.It can be thought that women are made compulsory members of the BOD and that their career backgrounds, talents and merits do not affect this choice (Burgess et al., 2002).Therefore, it becomes di cult for women to show the expected contribution (Fitzsimmons, 2012).However, women can bring empathy and careful observation skills, work discipline to the BOD and reduce con icts.In addition women have a positive perspective and more empathy towards ST (Samara et al., 2019;Birindelli et al., 2018).While the situation of WOB continues to be discussed, we see that the rate of WOB continues to increase in many developed and developing countries.This increase is crucial in terms of adopting the presence of WOB and showing the effect expected from women members.Their contribution to the boards of directors can lead businesses to achieve better results.
Research on the subject is generally done on the relationship between nancial results and the ratio of female members in the BOD.Compared to the studies examining the relationship between nancial results and the ratio of women, the number of studies focused on non-nancial results is very few and results are not consistent.In previous studies, ESG scores are generally used as a measure of non-nancial results.The ESG score is calculated by weighting the separately calculated E, S and G scores with certain ratios.
In our study, we focus on the E score, as in a few studies in the literature.Our main motivation is to understand whether female board members can make a difference against climate change, which is considered the world's biggest problem, and its negative consequences.Unlike the previous literature, we examine the relationship in question as short term and long term.Our purpose in making this distinction is to think that the presence of women can have positive effects over time.The adoption of women's presence and the increase in the proportion of women over time may mean that women will express themselves more easily, contribute more to decisions, and guide management more easily with their sensitivities and priorities.Indeed, the results also support this idea.In a short time, no signi cant relationship was found between the ratio of women and the environmental activity results of the enterprise and the E score, which is a measure of transparency.However, in our long term tests, we concluded that there is a positive and signi cant link between the ratio of women in the BOD and the E score.We have seen that the number of board members, which is our other independent variable and a diversity measure, has a positive and signi cant effect on the E score in the long run.The results are contrary to the idea that polyphony will complicate decision-making processes.
There are potential shortcomings with our methodology.Our dataset consists of data from listed European and American companies.The main reason we made this choice is that these companies share more reliable results due to the large number of stakeholders and the obligations they are subject to.
In the future, using the cointegration panel analysis method, the relationships among other sustainability scores can be analyzed in the long run.In this way, the results of the society in reaching the UN goals can be observed more clearly.

Policy Direction
Preventing the damage caused by businesses to the E depends on the objective evaluation of their effects on the environmental problems and their activities to solve the problems.The level of awareness on the subject is increasing, although it is not at the desired level.This study shows that ensuring diversity in BOD has a positive effect on the environmental performance and transparency of businesses in the long run.
The BS we take as a measure of variability shows us the importance of polyphony.Rather than heterogeneous and small board structures, large boards can perform favorable environmental performance and transparency in the long run.Similarly, the ratio of women, which is another measure of diversity, also shows its positive effect on the E in the long run.
In light of these results; signi cantly positive (2021).Similarly, Villiers et al. analysed the sample which consists of a panel of 2,151 observations from 2003 and 2004 years and stated a positive and signi cant relationship (2011) .
. According to Landry et al. increasing the representation of WOB of directors enables businesses to be more ethical, more desirable to work and more included in corporate recognition lists (2016).On the other hand, the impacts of WoB on corporate strategy and performance and the mechanisms by which these effects occur are unknown (Xie et al, 2020; Li et al., 2017).Studies on the subject generally focus on ESG scores (Menicucci et al., 2022; Kamarudin et al., 2022; Buallay et al, 2020; Gaio and Gonçalvez., 2022; Beji et al., 2021).The results obtained generally show a positive relationship.Few studies show a negative (Cucari et al., 2018) or no relationship between the WOB ratio and ESG (Çolakoğlu et al., 2021).

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Sectors of the Companies in the Sample Fig. 2: Indices Subject to the Companies in the Sample

Figure 4
Figure 4 shows the sustainability scores of companies between 2008 and 2021.It is seen that there is a consistent increase in all of these scores.E-scores of 1.65 from 2008 to 2021; S scores were 1.67; G scores are 1.21; ESG scores increased by 1.40 percent.sustainability scores indicate a historical increase, re ecting an increasing trend over period.

Figure 5
Figure 5 displays the average BS of companies and the average WOB of companies between 2008 and 2021.According to the graph, the BS has increased to approximately 12 in 13 years.However, while the WOB was 2 on average in 2008, this number increased to approximately 4 in 2021.While the average number of BS follows a parallel course, the average number of WOB shows a historical upward trend.

Figure 2 Indices 3 Countries of the Companies the Sample Figure 4 Sustainability
Figure 2 and Greco (2013) state that BS has a positive and signi cant effect on the management disclosures of Italian listed companies.Esa et al. (2012) found a positive effect for BS on the scope of CSR disclosures (2012).Similarly, Cucari et al. for Italian listed companies (2018), Khemakhem et al. for Canadien listed companies (2022), Beji et al. for France listed companies (2021), Ananzeh for emerging economies' companies (2022), Aladwey et al. for UK companies (2022); Zumente and Lace for Baltic States' companies (2021) found positive signi cant relations between BS and ESG.However, Giannarakis found no signi cant effect of BS on ESG disclosure (2014).According to Ellili BS is negatively associated with non-nancial companies' ESG disclosure (2022).

Table 1
Data description.woman executives on the board of companies by the total number of board members.All data are sourced from Bloomberg Data Terminal.
of Women Employees on the Board Bloomberg Environment (E) score shows the environmental scores of companies prepared by Bloomberg.BS presents to the number of members on the board of companies.WOB presents the percentage rate acquired by dividing the number of

Table 2
includes descriptive statistics.LnE is the value with the highest mean and median.

Table 3
displays the correlation values of variables.The signi cant relationships of variables are statistically.

Table 5
Residual Cross-Section Dependence Test Results

Table 6
includes the Pedroni Cointegration test results.

Table 9
The symbols ***, **, and * denote statistical signi cance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% levels, respectively As seen in Table9, both FMOLS and DOLS tests are consistent and statistically signi cant.According to the panel FMOLS results, a 1% increase in the BS causes an increase of ~ 1.81% in the E score of the companies.According to the panel DOLS results, a 1% increase in the BS causes an increase of ~ 1.79% in the E score of the companies.The ndings are compatible with literature studies(Villiers etal., 2011; Kassinis et al., 2016; Husted et al., 2019; Khan et al, 2021; Gurol and Lagasio., 2022).Statistical signi cance at the 1%, 5% and 10% levels are displayed in the table with ***, ** and * signs, respectively.The optimal lag length selection is 8 lags based on the AIC, LR, FPE, SC and HQ criteria.

Table 11
(SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 2 Zero Hunger, SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 6 Clear Water and Sanitation, SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12 Responsible Consuption and Production, SDG 13 Climate Action, SDG 14 Life Below Water, SDG 15 Life on Land).Since the goals are interrelated (Leal Filho et al. 2022), it can be seen that the subject covers all the goals.