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Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities
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Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities

A special issue of Journal of Risk and Financial Management (ISSN 1911-8074). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability and Finance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 10370

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lewis Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Business School, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Interests: corporate finance; climate finance; credit rating and risk; voluntary disclosure; debt market; IPO

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the global economy moves toward sustainable development, green finance has emerged as a vital catalyst in reshaping corporate strategy. Financial instruments such as green bonds, ESG-linked loans, sustainability indices, and carbon pricing are no longer niche but now central to how firms manage climate-related risks, allocate capital, and drive long-term innovation. These instruments not only influence access to finance, but also influence how companies define their strategic priorities, stakeholder engagement models, and competitive positioning.

This Special Issue aims to explore the evolving relationship between green finance and corporate strategy, with a focus on the opportunities and challenges that firms face in integrating environmental objectives into core business decisions. We welcome the submission of original research that examines how firms adapt their corporate strategies to align with green finance instruments, such as green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, carbon markets, ESG indices, and climate risk disclosures. This Special Issue will address the following topics in particular:

  • Strategic adaptation to ESG regulations and sustainability disclosure requirements;
  • The role of green finance in corporate innovation, investment, and risk management;
  • Sectoral and regional differences in green finance implementation;
  • Financial markets’ influence on corporate sustainability performance.

As environmental and climate challenges intensify, understanding how green finance shapes corporate behavior is both timely and essential. This Special Issue provides a platform for interdisciplinary insights that help academics, practitioners, and policymakers navigate the complex transition toward sustainable and responsible capitalism.

Dr. Lewis Liu
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Journal of Risk and Financial Management is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1600 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

  • green finance
  • sustainable investment
  • climate risk disclosure
  • ESG regulation
  • carbon markets
  • green bonds pricing

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 517 KB  
Article
Tokenisation Opportunities in Voluntary Carbon Markets: A Sectoral Diagnostic
by Massimo Preziuso
J. Risk Financial Manag. 2026, 19(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm19010028 - 2 Jan 2026
Viewed by 2103
Abstract
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are growing rapidly but remain structurally fragmented due to verification delays, lifecycle opacity, inconsistent metadata, and capital mobilisation bottlenecks. While blockchain is often proposed as a digitalisation layer to improve transparency and traceability, this paper reframes tokenisation as a [...] Read more.
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are growing rapidly but remain structurally fragmented due to verification delays, lifecycle opacity, inconsistent metadata, and capital mobilisation bottlenecks. While blockchain is often proposed as a digitalisation layer to improve transparency and traceability, this paper reframes tokenisation as a sector-aware financial infrastructure capturing the full lifecycle of carbon credits. Rather than treating it as a digital overlay, this study argues that tokenisation functions as a modular, automated architecture capable of absorbing sector-specific frictions within VCMs. Drawing on 1495 registry-compliant projects from the Berkeley Voluntary Offsets Database (BVOD v2025-06), the study develops the sector tokenisation opportunity matrix (STOM). This diagnostic framework maps registry-derived indicators—issuance volume, credit retirement ratio, and average credits per project—to three tokenisation functions: market expansion, retirement acceleration, and structuring for scale and fragmentation. STOM reveals how tokenisation can address VCM fragmentation by mobilising capital, reinforcing lifecycle integrity, and enabling assets to be packaged across diverse project types. By linking friction diagnostics to governance-sensitive infrastructure design, the research proposes a sector-aware blueprint for climate finance infrastructure and positions tokenisation as a strategic tool for scaling high-integrity climate action. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities)
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24 pages, 1130 KB  
Article
The Role of Sustainability Assurance in Enhancing Carbon Disclosure Transparency: Evidence from the ASEAN-5 Emerging Economies
by Novrys Suhardianto, Abu Hanifa Md. Noman, Senny Harindahyani, Ardianto Ardianto and Zayyan Ahmad Nuryaddin
J. Risk Financial Manag. 2026, 19(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm19010025 - 1 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1539
Abstract
The Asia Pacific, led by the resource-dependent ASEAN-5, is the largest carbon contributor, yet its firms exhibit critically low transparency. This study examines the relationship between voluntary Sustainability Assurance (SA) and carbon disclosure transparency using 875 firm-year observations (2018–2022). Applying panel regression and [...] Read more.
The Asia Pacific, led by the resource-dependent ASEAN-5, is the largest carbon contributor, yet its firms exhibit critically low transparency. This study examines the relationship between voluntary Sustainability Assurance (SA) and carbon disclosure transparency using 875 firm-year observations (2018–2022). Applying panel regression and several robustness tests, we find that SA adoption has a positive relationship with the magnitude of disclosed carbon emissions, indicating enhanced transparency. This positive relationship is significantly more pronounced in firms with high environmental performance and greater property, plant, and equipment (PPE) efficiency, suggesting SA aligns with genuine sustainability efforts rather than symbolic reporting. Furthermore, SA increases the likelihood of disclosing the complex Scope 3 emissions. However, the effectiveness of SA is conditional: its transparency benefit is statistically significant only within mandatory sustainability reporting (SR) regimes and in non-environmentally sensitive industries, highlighting crucial variations across regulatory and industrial contexts within ASEAN-5. This research provides evidence on the role of SA in emerging markets, extending Agency Theory by demonstrating its function as a credibility signal that reduces information asymmetry. We offer practical guidance for managers seeking market differentiation, and for regulators aiming to align voluntary SA with IFRS S1/S2 to enhance disclosure quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities)
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21 pages, 297 KB  
Article
The Evolution of Corporate Shadow Banking Behavior Under Climate Risk: Insights from Resilience and Capital Structure
by Sushan Lan, Onaikhan Zhadigerova, Zhanna Yermekova, Nazgul Syrlybayeva and Yerbol Sigayev
J. Risk Financial Manag. 2025, 18(12), 701; https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm18120701 - 9 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1180
Abstract
In the context of green transformation, climate change and its economic implications are attracting increasing attention. Based on the Trade-off Theory framework, this study examines how climate risk affects firms’ shadow banking activities in emerging markets. This study focuses on emerging market economies, [...] Read more.
In the context of green transformation, climate change and its economic implications are attracting increasing attention. Based on the Trade-off Theory framework, this study examines how climate risk affects firms’ shadow banking activities in emerging markets. This study focuses on emerging market economies, using a panel dataset of Chinese A-share non-financial listed firms from 2007 to 2023 to systematically examine the relationship between climate risk and shadow banking activities, that is, financing conducted outside the formal banking system. The empirical findings reveal that climate risk significantly dampens the shadow banking activities of non-financial firms. Further mechanism analysis suggests that this effect operates through two key channels: the weakening of corporate resilience and adjustments in capital structure decisions. Moreover, the analysis uncovers heterogeneous impacts of climate risk on shadow banking, depending on the quality of information disclosure, industry characteristics, and the degree of financing constraints. This research provides new insights into the evolution of corporate financial behavior under climate risk and offers empirical evidence to support firms in optimizing their financial strategies and enhancing their financial risk management capabilities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities)

Other

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27 pages, 570 KB  
Systematic Review
Green Bond Pricing: A Comprehensive Review of the Empirical Literature
by Lewis Liu and Yanqi Hu
J. Risk Financial Manag. 2025, 18(12), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm18120689 - 3 Dec 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4935
Abstract
As green finance grows, green bonds have become an essential tool for funding sustainable projects. While many studies explore whether green bonds exhibit a “green premium,” existing literature reviews often lack depth, timeliness, and consistent methodology. This paper addresses these gaps by systematically [...] Read more.
As green finance grows, green bonds have become an essential tool for funding sustainable projects. While many studies explore whether green bonds exhibit a “green premium,” existing literature reviews often lack depth, timeliness, and consistent methodology. This paper addresses these gaps by systematically reviewing 70 empirical studies on green premiums published up to 2025, making it the most comprehensive review to date. We organize the literature by region (Global, U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific), market segment, premium dimension, data source, and estimation method, offering a structured framework to analyze diverse findings. Our analysis reveals a consistent negative green premium of −12.44 bps on average across most markets, with European and Asian markets showing higher yield spreads than the U.S. Studies using more recent data report smaller premiums, and larger bond issues tend to have lower premiums. Despite variations in methods and data sources, the overall results are consistent. This paper provides an updated overview of green premium research and offers key insights for investors, issuers, and policymakers on green finance pricing and investment strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Finance and Corporate Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities)
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