Language affects almost every aspect of management in multinational enterprises (MNEs) but little is known about the impact of language on environmental performance. Our study investigates how language diversity affects the environmental performance of MNEs worldwide. We show that the grammatical structure of a language – specifically the first pronoun drop – is an important factor explaining the environmental performance of firms. Our analysis of 4454 company-year observations suggests that MNEs operating in societies that permit the first pronoun drop tend to have better environmental performance. Furthermore, we explore the impact of linguistic structure on the relationship between environmental performance and corporate political activity (CPA). We find that using the first pronoun drop of the local language moderates the influence of CPA on firms’ environmental performance. Our study concludes that international managers must pay greater attention to the neglected role of language in implementing environmental initiatives.

语言几乎影响着跨国企业 （MNE） 管理的方方面面，但人们对语言对环境绩效的影响知之甚少。我们的研究调查了语言多样性如何影响全球跨国企业的环境绩效。我们表明，语言的语法结构——特别是第一个代词下降——是解释公司环境绩效的重要因素。我们对 4454 个公司年度观察的分析表明，在允许第一个代词去掉的社会中运营的跨国企业往往具有更好的环境绩效。此外，我们探讨了语言结构对环境绩效与公司政治活动 （CPA） 之间关系的影响。我们发现，使用当地语言的第一个代词 drop 会调节 CPA 对公司环境绩效的影响。我们的研究得出结论，国际管理者必须更加关注语言在实施环境倡议中被忽视的作用。