Green finance, sustainability disclosure and economic implications

Abstract

PurposeIn this study, the authors provide a systematic literature review of articles in the emerging areas of green finance and discuss the status and challenges in sustainability disclosure, which is crucial for the efficiency of green financial instruments. The authors then review the literature on the economic implications of green finance and outline future research directions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the analytical framework – Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis (SALSA) to conduct the systematic review of the literature.FindingsIncreasing public attention to the environment motivates the use of green finance to fund environmentally sustainable projects, and the rise of green finance intensifies the demand for environmental disclosure. Literature has documented tremendous growth in sustainability reporting over time and around the globe, as well as raised concerns about how such reporting lack consistency, comparability, and assurance. Despite these challenges, the authors find that in general, the literature agrees that a firm’s green practice is positively associated with its financial performance and negatively related to a firm’s cost of capital. Green finance is also found to bring about enhanced risk management and economic development.Originality/valueThe authors provide one of the first reviews of green finance, sustainability disclosure and the impact of green finance on financial performance, capital market and economic development.

Greening the Future: Harnessing ICT, Innovation, Eco-Taxes, and Clean Energy for Sustainable Ecology—Insights from Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated Regression, Continuously Updated Fully Modified, and Continuously Updated Bias-Corrected Models

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“…Green accounting is capable of identifying environmental costs that impact sustainability indicators [37]. Other findings indicate that the performance of green accounting influences company performance [38,39]. However, the specific implementation of green accounting is still limited in the industrial sector, as industry readiness needs to be guided by precise standards.…”

Evaluation of coupling coordination development between digital economy and green finance: Evidence from 30 provinces in China

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