Purpose: This study investigates whether female board representation reduces carbon emissions in French-listed companies. It also analyzes to what extent and in what direction family control moderates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected data from nonfinancial French-listed companies between 2017 and 2022, totalizing 468 firm-year observations. Then, the data were analyzed using linear regression models with panel data. Findings: Findings show that board diversity improves firms' emission reduction performance, suggesting that women on board constitute a valuable resource that can bring distinctive management styles to improve carbon emission performance. Furthermore, the carbon performance-favorable orientation of women on board tends to be weaker, according to the family’s interests and wishes. Practical implications: This research highlights that female directors help boards address carbon risk only in nonfamily firms. Our study also supports policymakers' efforts to improve diversity in the board of directors through the mandatory female directorship quota of 40% since 2011 in France. Originality/value: This study extends past literature by providing new insights into the effect of board gender diversity and family control on carbon emissions performance in the French context, which is characterized by an increasing trend for higher carbon engagement by listed firms in France, mainly after the Paris Agreement.

Sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) ensures the credibility of sustainability information disclosed by companies. This practice has continued to evolve, particularly within regulatory frameworks. The SRA is widespread among the largest French and South African companies because of the requirements of GRENELLE II and KING III laws. The increased regulation of SRA and the increased rate of obtaining assurance motivated us to conduct our study. This study examines the impact of mandatory SRA on firm value. We run a fixed-effects ordinary least squares (OLS) panel model to test our hypothesis for the 2007–2018 period on a sample of 88 South African listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and 83 French listed companies on the SBF120 index. We use Tobin’s Q to measure firm value. Our results show a significant positive association between mandatory SRA and firm value. This finding implies that SRA regulations positively affect investors’ perceptions of firm performance, particularly firm value, for two reasons. First, mandatory SRA may strengthen firm legitimacy and establish a good reputation. Second, the adoption of SRA regulations plays an important role in reducing asymmetric information between various actors and solving agency problems between managers and shareholders. Regulators may be interested in the findings when considering current and future assurance requirements for sustainability reporting, and shareholders when considering SRA as an investment choice criterion.