Moderating role of national gender policy on women directors’ empowerment and carbon emissions disclosure practices in global energy companies

Purpose Drawing from multi-theoretical perspectives, this study aims to empirically examine the influence of women directors’ empowerment (WDE) and national gender policy (NGP) on the extent of the carbon emissions disclosure performance (CEDP). Design/methodology/approach This study engaged on global energy leading companies (TGELC) from the Thomson Reuters 2017 database with 291 observations of the panel data from the years 2018–2020. Findings The statistical evidence suggests that WDE is critical to improving CEDP and its effectiveness for making strategic decisions in relation to climate concerns. In addition, this study found that on the macro level, the NGP moderates the relationship between WDE and CEDP. Originality/value This study filled the knowledge gap and expanded beyond the narrow viewpoints that had previously been held, which turned out to contribute theoretically and practically. This research adds to the expanding corpus of literature on the topic of CEDP, underscoring the transformative influence of women directors (WDs) emphasising the study’s significant importance and positioning it as an innovative contribution to the discipline.