The influence of shareholder ESG performance on corporate sustainability: Exploring the role of ownership structure

•The linkage between shareholders’ and companies’ ESG performance is investigated.•We find a positive association between shareholder ESG performance and corporate ESG performance.•The effect is stronger when ownership is less concentrated, and the first shareholder is not considered. The increasing emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria has raised important questions about the role of shareholders in influencing corporate sustainability. Using an international sample of 5,182 companies, we find a positive association between corporate ESG performance and shareholder ESG performance, and this is robust to endogeneity issues. This effect is stronger when the first shareholder is excluded, ownership is more dispersed and firms ensure more rights to their shareholders, suggesting that these characteristics play a key role in strengthening this link.