Corporate Governance for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Oil and Gas Companies

Global Business Review. 2026. P. 1–19.

Evgeniia K., Khadimullina L.

Constantly increasing attention to greenhouse gas emissions performance posits managers at a
crossroads, weighing the decision to adopt a comprehensive governance approach for the sustainability
agenda or to employ precise governance tools specifically targeting greenhouse gas emissions.
Answering this managerial dilemma, the study employs a fixed-effects regression analysis, focusing on
data from 2016 to 2022 for 81 publicly traded oil and gas companies. The research findings highlight
the importance of stakeholder-oriented corporate governance elements in achieving carbon neutrality,
contrasting with the irrelevance of agency-based metrics. Specifically, board expertise and stakeholder
engagement, with a focus on emissions reduction in the oil and gas industry, emerged as effective elements,
while other metrics were found to be insignificant or even detrimental, diverting resources away
from corporate emissions management. These most effective mechanisms promote a resource-based
perspective for corporate governance aimed at achieving carbon neutrality, considering the high level
of competition they face with a company’s broader environmental agenda.

Keywords: corporate governance, oil and gas, carbon neutrality, resource-based view, greenhouse gas emissions