Abstract
We conduct an empirical investigation into whether the Christian religiosity prevalent in a company's headquarters community influences its top management's decisions on climate change. The study tests two opposing theoretical frameworks: a stewardship hypothesis, which predicts a positive relationship in which managers act as environmental stewards, and a dominion hypothesis, which predicts a negative relationship in which managers exercise a harmful dominion over nature. The results present a compelling contrast. We find that general Christian religiosity is negatively associated with corporate climate initiatives, supporting the dominion hypothesis. Conversely, the specific Catholic religiosity within a community is associated positively with Catholic religiosity, supporting the stewardship hypothesis. This pattern is reinforced by data on managers' personal religiosity, showing that Catholic managers favor climate-friendly initiatives, while Protestant managers disfavor them.