Progress on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues is vastly different depending where in the world you look. However, the literature on what drives ESG performance is highly fragmented and current theories fail to offer useful insights into the disparity in ESG performance. Hence, this study draws upon an accumulated body of knowledge of ESG-related literature and explores the major drivers of ESG performance. By applying a scientific and replicable methodology of systematic literature review, this article reveals the fundamental debate underpinning ESG responsibility, the breath of pertinent stakeholders, the theories necessary to understand ESG management and the conditions which will best achieve ESG progress. The major themes help inform the most effective choice of mechanisms to improve ESG outcomes. However, there are also significant themes not yet fully developed in the literature. Future research is urgently needed on the impact of economic development, regulatory environment and responsible investing on ESG outcomes. These research trajectories hold important implications for investment management, corporate strategy and government policies affecting global ESG performance.

Urgent issues such as climate change have drawn increasing attention from finance scholars. Most research has situated a corporate response within the context of the environmental, social and governance performance. However, other disciplines express concerns around environmental degradation within broader frameworks, such as the Planetary Boundaries framework. We highlight the different conceptualisations of ESG and planetary boundaries and call for further research that links finance research to the Planetary Boundaries framework. We describe how contributions in the Accounting & Finance Special Issue on Environmental Finance advance research in this area and explore implications for future research that responds to the imperatives of remaining within Planetary Boundaries.

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This study examines information and volatility linkages across energy and financial markets. In a world economy so connected, the impacts of climate change are likely to be transmitted through interlinked global markets. Hence, uncovering and understanding the interaction across these markets is a fundamental concern during the energy transition as it helps to understand how to strengthen incentives to facilitate energy investments. Based on the relation between information flows and volatility, this study employs a simple correlation approach based on implied volatility measures and the trading model of Fleming et al. to measure the common information linkages, as gauged by the correlation of return volatilities. The results suggest that volatility linkages across these markets are strong due to common information sharing and cross-market hedging. JEL Classification: G12, G14

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