Dear Colleagues,

The term "finance" often refers to the optimization of shareholder value and the maximization of profitability and return on investment. It is habitually synonymous with the pursuit of economic growth and development, at times at the cost of increasingly scarce natural resources. However, in the wake of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges of the 21th century this version of finance, is seriously contested. Now, corporations and institutions, NGO's and governments need to assume responsibility for the impact of their activities on their stakeholders. In response to these challenges, business leaders, policy makers, activists and academics suggest the need to integrate financial activity into the broader economic activity (Paranque, 2017; Paranque and Pérez, 2016) and then to anchor it into social activity (Polanyi, 1983; Fischbach, 2015b). Lagoarde-Segot and Paranque (2018) consider that this integration implies reaffirming the primacy of social objectives over economic and financial objectives, which are the only means to achieve them.

This has led to the development of "Sustainable Finance" and the emergence of a number of new challenges related to environment and society, particularly in the time of COVID-19.

• Climate risks: modelling and assessment;
• Climate change and environmental degradation;
• Economic, social and governance effects of climate uncertainty;
• Financing innovations for sustainability;
• Green and responsible investment opportunities;
• Latest developments in financial inclusion;
• Large project financing for achieving Sustainable Development Goals;
• Trends and challenges in SME finance;
• Sustainable finance;
• Sustainable resources management;
• The emergence of Fintechs and the reshaping of financial services industry.

Prof. Dr. Zied Ftiti
Dr. Younes Ben Zaied
Guest Editors

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• financial inclusion
• climate change
• COVID-19
• Fintech, sustainable
• finance
• sustainable development goals
• green finance