With the increasing focus on gender equality, the role of women in company boards is be-coming increasingly important and beneficial for the company's social responsibility image. Organizations such as the European Parliament have proposed corresponding legislation re-quiring a certain proportion of women on company boards, reflecting the importance of the gender diversity agenda. Additionally, climate change has become a focal point of international concern, and women's higher level of attention to climate initiatives may help promote envi-ronmentally friendly actions and policy-making. Therefore, it is essential to consider gender diversity when implementing relevant policies to ensure that everyone in society has equal op-portunities to face the challenges posed by climate change.
This study uses banks in European countries as an example, covering the period from 2017 to 2022. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we calculate the efficiency of the banks. We then use the Two Stage Tobit Regression Model to explore the impact of gender di-versity and the level of involvement in climate initiatives, as well as their interaction, on bank performance. The empirical results show that gender diversity has a positive and significant impact on bank efficiency; participation in climate initiatives has a negative and significant im-pact on bank efficiency, while the implementation of environmental projects has a positive and significant impact on bank efficiency. Further in-depth exploration of the relationship between gender diversity and participation in climate issues reveals that the interaction between gender diversity and participation in climate initiatives has a positive and significant impact, while the interaction between gender diversity and the implementation of environmental projects has a negative and significant impact.
