Non-state climate governance, corporate leadership, and governance performance: evidence from the US electric utility sector

COP26 highlighted near-term emissions reductions in addition to longer-term net-zero. At the same time, shifts in political landscapes around the world have furthered the salience of climate action led by non-state actors such as business interests, civil society and nonprofits, and local and regional communities. Despite the promise, performance of non-state climate action remains unclear and requires further empirical validation. The current study focuses on corporate entities and explores the potential effect of corporate leadership on climate governance (CG) performance. Our aim is to advance the literature on non-state CG by offering empirical evidence of the less-studied effectiveness of non-state CG leadership. Echoing previous research, our study identifies a contingent perspective on the effect of corporate leadership on CG performance. Specifically, through the context of utilities’ energy efficiency programming in the U.S. and a multilevel research design, we find suggestive evidence that when the moderating effect of citizens’ support is considered, corporate leadership could potentially positively affect CG performance. Additionally, we demonstrate that a CG system’s operational uncertainty can complicate the effect of corporate leadership on performance whereas a pro-environmental citizenry can enhance such effect.