This study delves into the impact that Environmental (E), Social (S), and Governance (G) controversies and have on firm value. While previous literature has predominantly examined ESG controversies as a collective entity, this study adopts a novel approach by dissecting the effects of controversies within each ESG pillar individually. To achieve this, a dataset comprising 293 publicly listed European firms is used, yielding a total of 4,395 firm-year observations spanning from 2008 to 2022. The empirical findings from the regression analyses exhibit different results for the three pillars. The findings concerning the Environmental and Social pillars confirm the anticipated negative effect of controversies on firm value.