Environmental sustainability practices and ROA: A configurational analysis of IBEX 35 firms in Energy and Industry & Construction

Abstract

Background: The transition from voluntary sustainability narratives to more standardised and auditable disclosure requirements in Europe (CSRD/ESRS) has intensified the need for evidence on how observable environmental practices relate to financial outcomes. Persistent disagreement among commercial sustainability ratings, especially on environmental components, reinforces the case for using auditable indicators in sustainability-performance research.

Purpose: This study identifies which configurations of environmental sustainability practices are associated with high financial performance in Spanish IBEX-listed firms, and whether those pathways differ across Energy and Industry & Construction.

Study design: Using hand-collected data from 2023 corporate reports for 15 IBEX-listed firms, we calibrate three environmental conditions, renewable energy share, waste recovery, and EMAS maturity, and apply fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to examine pathways to high return on assets (ROA).

Findings: No single environmental practice emerges as necessary for high ROA. Sufficiency differs by sector: in Energy, no stable sufficient configuration is retained under the adopted consistency threshold, suggesting ROA is shaped by additional drivers beyond this parsimonious set. In Industry & Construction, two sufficient pathways highlight equifinality: one combines high waste recovery with EMAS maturity despite low renewable share, while the alternative one links high renewable share to high ROA in the absence of both waste recovery and EMAS maturity. These results support a non-additive view within the environmental pillar; social and governance dimensions are outside the scope of the present design.

Limitations/implications: The study is scoped to the environmental pillar and a single fiscal year; future research should extend the design to multi-year panels, incorporate assurance/verification quality, and test broader ESG dimensions as European reporting standards evolve.