ARE CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICERS GUARDIANS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE? AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION

Finn Petersen, Vibhuti Dhingra, Rachna Shah

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Environmentally hazardous manufacturing facilities are disproportionately located in underserved communities, which exposes low-income and non-white populations to significantly higher toxic releases and adverse health risks. We study whether a firm governance reform— specifically, appointing a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)—can mitigate this environmental injustice. Using data on the toxic releases of U.S. manufacturing facilities from 2000 to 2020, we find that appointing a CSO decreases toxic releases by up to 19% and that the effect is particularly pronounced for facilities in under-served communities. Our work sheds new light on how corporate governance reforms act as a control mechanism for addressing environmental injustice, an issue that has proven challenging to regulate effectively.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalAcademy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
Volume2024
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, AOM 2024 - Chicago, United States
Duration: Aug 9 2024Aug 13 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Academy of Management. All rights reserved.

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