ESG and the Net Zero Transition: Managing Operations, Finance and Innovation for Sustainability
A special issue of Accounting and Auditing (ISSN 3042-6618).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 125
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sustainability; strategic management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: corporate governance; earnings management/quality; disclosure quality; sustainability reporting; FDI and business ethics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Businesses play a pivotal role in addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and social inequalities. The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework provides a critical foundation for measuring progress and managing corporate initiatives aimed at fostering a sustainable society. The growing emphasis on net-zero targets has also highlighted significant challenges—particularly regarding disclosure accountability, reporting integrity, and transparency in accounting and auditing. As achieving net-zero emissions becomes a defining global goal, there is an increasing need to understand how ESG strategies and practices align with and drive the net-zero transition.
The aim of this Special Issue is to explore how the ESG pillars—individually and collectively—contribute to achieving net-zero goals, and to identify the operational strategies, disclosures, and innovations required to advance sustainability objectives.
We invite original research, applied articles, case studies, and systematic reviews that deepen the understanding of how ESG disclosures and practices support the net-zero transition, operational transformation, and innovation for sustainability.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Accounting and accountability in the net-zero transition;
- Impacts of ESG disclosures on achieving net-zero outcomes;
- Operational models supporting ESG implementation and decarbonization;
- Innovations that enable ESG-driven sustainability pathways;
- Corporate governance and climate-related goals;
- Financial implications of ESG and the net-zero transition;
- ESG/sustainability disclosure and financial strategies (e.g., cash flows, access to finance, cost of capital);
- Impact of carbon emissions on audit risk and audit fees;
- Net-zero carbon goals and key audit matters;
- Corporate narrative reporting on ESG and auditor commentary;
- Cross-sectoral and global perspectives on ESG and net-zero transitions;
- Sector-specific studies on net-zero strategies;
- Case-based insights on ESG integration into net-zero strategies across industries.
Invitation for Submissions:
This Special Issue welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives and encourages submissions from fields such as sustainability science, operations management, finance, accounting, economics, business, policy, and environmental studies.
Dr. Shahid Md Shahiduzzaman
Dr. Omar Al Farooque
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Accounting and Auditing is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- ESG
- net zero
- sustainability
- operations
- innovation
- accounting
- auditing
- corporate strategy
- sustainable performance
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