This chapter examines the incidence of ESG controversies in family and non-family businesses, using OLS and 2SLS models on a sample of European listed companies from 2013 to 2022. The results show that the effects of governance and ownership structure variables on the propensity to engage in ESG controversies differ between family and non-family businesses. In family businesses, a higher share of family ownership significantly reduces the likelihood of controversies, while cultural diversity on the board increases the risk. Furthermore, board size and company profitability modulate exposure to ESG risk, suggesting that family governance arrangements can be both an asset and a vulnerability in preventing ESG conflicts. By focusing on ESG controversies as a specific manifestation of ESG risk, the chapter contributes to a research area that, as yet, does not constitute a consolidated thematic cluster in the bibliometric analysis presented in Chap. 2 , thereby extending the literature on risk in family firms into a relatively underexplored domain.