Extreme weather events caused by climate change have increased people’s focus on sustainability. Environmental, social, and governance management (ESGM) has become crucial for corporate operations and development; ESGM has attracted the attention of the academic communities, and the number of related studies has continued to increase. However, this topic is multidisciplinary and diverse; therefore, this study used the Web of Science Core Collection Database to conduct a bibliometric analysis of ESGM-related articles published from 2002 to 2021. Bibliometrix (R language), VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were used to identify and analyze research trends related to the number of studies, research fields, authors, national institutions, and keywords. The importance of management and governance was identified through keyword analysis; important keywords identified were financial performance, adaptive governance, property rights, sustainable development goals, and corporate governance.

The recovery of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is currently considered to be the most viable solution for its management. However, in developing resource recovery technologies, it is crucial to consider the overall environmental impact. This study employed a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to compare environmentally friendly red bricks partially utilizing MSWI fly ash as a raw material with conventional red bricks. The results demonstrate that the use of phosphoric acid during the resource recovery process imposes the most significant environmental burden, followed by electricity consumption. To address this issue, in this study, we simulated the replacement of phosphoric acid with phosphoric acid monohydrate recovered from discarded fire extinguishers, resulting in the production of second-generation environmentally friendly red bricks. The analysis revealed that the environmentally friendly red bricks exhibited a mere 5.52% increase in total environmental impact compared with traditional red bricks. Moreover, by stabilizing heavy metals using recovered phosphoric acid monohydrate, the second-generation environmentally friendly red bricks achieved an 8.75% reduction in total environmental impact relative to traditional red bricks. These findings highlight the environmental benefits of fly ash reuse in red brick production, and the incorporation of other industrial waste or byproducts could further enhance its efficacy. The application of the LCA facilitated the identification of key areas for improvement and enabled precise evaluation of the environmental benefits associated with waste reuse.