Growing attention is attributed to symbolic and substantive climate efforts, labelled as climate talk and walk. Focusing on the European capital market, we study the relationship between board gender diversity, family ownership and different levels of corporate climate activities along the continuum from climate talk to climate walk. Using emission reduction target data from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), we conduct various panel regression analyses and propose several additional robustness tests. Our results extend prior research on carbon performance and reporting by providing novel insights into how firms translate their climate ambitions into actionable targets and how they subsequently deliver on those targets. This study stresses that firms with gender‐diverse boards engage more in symbolic climate talk but not in substantive climate walk. Empirical evidence on the family ownership impact is mixed. Overall, family ownership tends to exhibit a negative association with climate actions, although the effect depends on the ownership concentration threshold and varies with family management. Our results also indicate that female directors mitigate the negative direct consequences of family ownership for climate actions. Our study contributes to the ongoing discourse regarding symbolic and substantive climate efforts among European businesses and sheds light on the particular role of different corporate governance mechanisms for attaining international climate objectives. As climate‐related regulatory initiatives unfold rapidly, the results are highly relevant to European firms, their stakeholders and regulators. In terms of their practical application, our results may inform the pending ‘omnibus’ proposals to revise European sustainability legislation while also helping firms to reflect on their governance structures in line with climate needs.

中文翻译：

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女性董事、家族企业、气候讲座和气候漫步：欧洲证据

越来越多的关注归因于象征性和实质性的气候努力，被贴上了气候谈话和行动的标签。我们专注于欧洲资本市场，研究了董事会性别多样性、家族所有权以及从气候讨论到气候步行的连续体中不同层面的企业气候活动之间的关系。使用来自碳信息披露项目 （CDP） 的减排目标数据，我们进行了各种面板回归分析，并提出了几项额外的稳健性测试。我们的研究结果通过为企业如何将其气候雄心转化为可作的目标以及随后如何实现这些目标提供了新的见解，从而扩展了先前对碳绩效和报告的研究。本研究强调，拥有性别多元化董事会的公司更多地参与象征性的气候对话，而不是实质性的气候行走。关于家族所有权影响的经验证据喜忧参半。总体而言，家族所有权往往与气候行动呈负相关，尽管其影响取决于所有权集中阈值，并因家族管理而异。我们的研究结果还表明，女性董事减轻了家族所有权对气候行动的负面直接后果。我们的研究有助于欧洲企业之间关于象征性和实质性气候努力的持续讨论，并阐明不同公司治理机制在实现国际气候目标方面的特殊作用。随着气候相关监管举措的迅速展开，其结果与欧洲公司、其利益相关者和监管机构高度相关。 就其实际应用而言，我们的结果可能会为修订欧洲可持续发展立法的悬而未决的“综合”提案提供信息，同时也有助于公司根据气候需求反思其治理结构。