Board characteristics and sustainable energy performance of selected companies in South Africa

Abstract

The study examines the influence of board characteristics on environmental sustainability performance. Companies’ sustainability performance is affected by many factors such as board composition, lack of knowledge, policies and resources of companies, competition from other companies and market trends. The King IV Code of Corporate Governance suggests that the composition of board members ought to contain a diversity of race and gender and independence. The Code states that the board members should consist of both independent members and non-independent members that would act in the interest of the companies. The study used the multiple regression analysis to analyse data from Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)’s Socially Responsible Index (SRI) listed banking and retail companies from 2007–2017 to test how board characteristics influence environmental (energy usage) sustainability of JSE SRI listed firms. Results indicate that the number of female board members has a negative and insignificant influence on corporate energy usage; board independence positively and significantly influences energy usage, and market capitalisation has a positive but an insignificant influence on energy usage. The study suggests that though not all board characteristics influence companies’ environmental performance, having a considerable number of independent board members could have a positive impact on environmentally-related decisions.