This paper studies whether and how firms’ legal environment influences their environmental performance. After presenting new evidence on the positive link between civil law origin and firms’ environmental outcomes, we propose and show that directors with legal study or work experience exert a stronger impact on firms’ environmental outcomes in civil law than in common law countries. The results suggest the compliance effect of legal directors is stronger for firms located in civil law countries than the litigation risk effect for firms in common law countries. Using a quasi-natural experiment of the Paris Agreement, we find evidence consistent with our interpretation.

本文研究企业的法律环境是否以及如何影响其环境绩效。在提出了民法渊源与公司环境成果之间正向联系的新证据后，我们提出并表明，具有法律研究或工作经验的董事在民法中比普通法国家对公司环境成果产生更大的影响。结果表明，法律董事对大陆法系国家公司的合规效应强于普通法系国家公司的诉讼风险效应。通过《巴黎协定》的准自然实验，我们找到了与我们的解释一致的证据。