<![CDATA[This study is intended to investigate and evaluate the influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles on tax avoidance practices among companies operating in the coal production sub-industry within the energy sector that are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, covering the observation period from 2022 to 2024, while also taking into account the role of board-level gender diversity as a moderating variable in that relationship. This study is driven by the critical role that tax revenues play in supporting government financing, alongside the persistent indications of tax avoidance behavior, particularly within sectors that make substantial contributions to corporate income tax receipts. Simultaneously, the growing emphasis on ESG principles has encouraged corporations to operate with greater transparency and accountability across all aspects of their business conduct, including matters related to taxation. Furthermore, the presence of gender diversity within a company's board of directors is regarded as a factor capable of elevating the quality of both decision-making processes and supervisory functions, which in turn may have a meaningful bearing on a company's inclination to engage in tax avoidance practices. Panel data regression analysis was employed in this study with support from Stata to evaluate the association among variables, including the influence of the moderating variable on the proposed relationship under study. Overall, the results indicate that although ESG does not directly affect tax avoidance, the presence of women on the board of directors significantly alters the relationship by weakening the effect of ESG on tax avoidance practices]]>
