Does clean technology weaken the environmental impact on the financial performance? Insight from global oil and gas companies

This study aims to clarify the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance by introducing clean technology as the moderating variable. We contest two major theories, natural resource-based view theory and neoclassical theory, to reveal a comprehensive understanding of environmental performance's impact on financial performance. The hypotheses are tested on 111 global oil and gas companies using dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM). Our analysis reveals three key findings. First, lower environmental performance leads to lower financial performance confirming the natural resource-based view theory. Second, clean technology has no significant effect on financial performance, arguing the marginal abatement cost. Finally, our results report that clean technology has no impact on increasing financial performance during high waste spills or high emissions. Theoretical and practical implications resulting from the adoption of clean technology to moderate the environmental impact on financial performance are also discussed.