Digital Finance, Sustainable Development and Green Transition Risks

The special issue focuses on how green transition is supported with digital finance, including its associated risks or failures in delivering sustainable outcomes. The core scope of the special issue lies on the interrelationships among financial risks, green innovation, fintech, digital finance, energy transition and ESG, while paying more attention to market integrity, institutional heterogeneity, regulation and governance [1–4].

Scope

Research that explores the positive pathways in promoting green outcomes with digital and inclusive finance are covered in the issue, including low-carbon transition, energy-environmental performance, green innovation, resource efficiency and sustainable productivity [1,3]. Work on green finance and fintech integration will be included, for instance, digital technologies’ role in net-zero transition, models on green digital finance, sustainable finance ecosystems and ESG disclosure [2,5].

Of great importance in this special issue is the analysis of possible constraints and associated risks, such as threshold effects, financing constraints, regulatory uncertainty, privacy, cybersecurity, greenwashing and unequal outcomes across firms, sectors and countries [3,5]. This broadens the special issue than simply focusing on the “digital finance is good” narrative; without critically examining the conditions, which improves the credibility of digital finance for sustainability [1,3,5].

Aims

The special issue focuses on building a balanced research agenda on the digital finance–green transition nexus, thereby bringing together policy analysis, conceptual work and empirical evidence [5]. Moreover, the special issue focuses on clarifying mechanisms, like how digital finance influences carbon outcomes, dynamic capabilities, supply chain stability, financing constraints and green innovation [1,6,7]. Additionally, the special issue aim to investigate regulation and governance, as literature suggests the importance of legal frameworks, institutional quality and regulatory design in fostering the benefits of digital finance for sustainable development [3].

Objectives

• Identify mechanisms that links digital finance to sustainability performance, low-carbon transition and green innovation.
• Assess heterogeneity across institutional settings, industries, regions and countries [3,4].
• Investigate associated risks, like compliance gaps, data-related risks, market instability and greenwashing.
• Evaluate regulatory and policy frameworks that are essential for advancements of responsible green digital finance.
• Develop forward-looking agenda for sustainable finance research, ESG and fintech.

Overally, the special issue seeks to position digital finance as both a risk-bearing infrastructure and a catalyst for green transition, ensuring questions on its applicability, for whom, how, and the associated trade-offs [1,3,5].

References

1. Yang, J., & Hui, N. (2024). How digital finance affects the sustainability of corporate green innovation. Finance Research Letters, 63, 105314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105314
2. Ahmad, F., Boumaiza, A., Sanfilippo, A., & Al‐Fagih, L. (2025). A detailed comprehensive role of digital technologies in green finance initiative for net‐zero energy transition. Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, 6(10), 2500066. https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202500066
3. Zaman, M., Sheraz, M., Qin, Q., & Mumtaz, M. Z. (2025). Pursuing the roadmaps to SDG 13: How climate change technology moderates the nexus between digital finance and environmental sustainability. Sustainable Development, 33(4), 5470-5486. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3420
4. Cao, S., Nie, L., Sun, H., Sun, W., & Taghizadeh-Hesary, F. (2021). Digital finance, green technological innovation and energy-environmental performance: Evidence from China's regional economies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 327, 129458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129458
5. Geetha, S., & Biju, A. V. N. (2024). Is green FinTech reshaping the finance sphere? Unravelling through a systematic literature review. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 31(2), 1790-1810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31382-y
6. Xie, Y. (2025). Digital inclusive finance drives green innovation: Pathways and mechanisms for sustainable development. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 16(4), 14867-14906. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-02497-5
7. Pan, L., Sun, Z., Wang, Z., & Dong, H. (2025). Digital finance and low carbon transition of heavy polluters: A study based on the dual driving effects of supply chain stability and dynamic capabilities. Journal of Environmental Management, 394, 127355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127355

Dr. Abraham Deka
Guest Editor

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• green transition
• digital finance
• sustainable development
• financial risks
• environmenta, social and governance
• financial technology