Climate change has increasingly attracted business attention over the last decade, focusing particularly on the eco-efficiency debate. The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we contribute to the ongoing debate on the effects of environmental strategies on firm performance. We investigate this relationship by considering the relative greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as a predictor of the eco-efficiency of firms' environmental strategies. GHG emissions are a direct indicator of the environmental performance and effectively measure the firm's efforts in mitigating the impacts related to its processes and products. Second, we investigate the drivers that lead to an increase in the firm's environmental impact under the conditions of increasing market performance by the firm, therefore paving the road to the concept of eco-effectiveness of corporate environmental strategies. To test our hypotheses, we use a sample of worldwide listed companies derived from the S&P 1200 list. A longitudinal analysis is run through generalized least squares regression models over the period 2004–2016. Results offer evidence of the direct relationship between the level of absolute emissions and market performance of the firm. Therefore, the findings have significant implications on the way we conceptualize corporate environmental sustainability and environmental strategies, shedding new light on the relation between environmental pressures and corporate growth.

中文翻译：

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为生态效益铺路：探索温室气体排放与企业绩效之间的联系

在过去十年中，气候变化越来越引起企业的关注，尤其是生态效率的争论。本文的目标是双重的。首先，我们为正在进行的关于环境战略对公司绩效影响的辩论做出贡献。我们通过将相对温室气体排放 (GHG) 作为企业环境战略生态效率的预测指标来研究这种关系。温室气体排放是环境绩效的直接指标，可有效衡量公司在减轻与其流程和产品相关的影响方面所做的努力。其次，我们调查了在公司提高市场绩效的条件下导致公司环境影响增加的驱动因素，因此为企业环境战略的生态效益概念铺平了道路。为了检验我们的假设，我们使用了来自标准普尔 1200 指数的全球上市公司样本。纵向分析通过 2004-2016 年期间的广义最小二乘回归模型进行。结果提供了绝对排放水平与公司市场绩效之间直接关系的证据。因此，这些发现对我们将企业环境可持续性和环境战略概念化的方式具有重要意义，为环境压力与企业增长之间的关系提供了新的思路。纵向分析通过 2004-2016 年期间的广义最小二乘回归模型进行。结果提供了绝对排放水平与公司市场绩效之间直接关系的证据。因此，这些发现对我们将企业环境可持续性和环境战略概念化的方式具有重要意义，为环境压力与企业增长之间的关系提供了新的思路。纵向分析通过 2004-2016 年期间的广义最小二乘回归模型进行。结果提供了绝对排放水平与公司市场绩效之间直接关系的证据。因此，这些发现对我们将企业环境可持续性和环境战略概念化的方式具有重要意义，为环境压力与企业增长之间的关系提供了新的思路。