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Introduction: This chapter examines the impact of Financial Technology (Fintech) on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals to promote a sustainable financial system. Digital payment platforms, blockchain applications, and AI-powered analytics have revolutionised the financial landscape in recent years. These advancements have made integrating ESG principles into investment decisions and business practices easier.

Purpose: The main aim of this chapter is to analyse the connections and possibilities that Fintech offers to achieve ESG goals. Understanding how Fintech can facilitate sustainable finance practices is crucial for promoting investment in Fintech.

Methodology: A series of indexes have been examined, including the Global FinTech Index (GFI) in Global and Regional Rank, the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index, and performing the Green Growth Index, the Green Economic Opportunity Index, the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI), and the Financial Inclusion Index.

Findings: Through comparative analysis, it can be concluded that the countries with the highest rankings are Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Sweden ranks highly in the GFI. These results show that these countries rank highly in achieving ESG objectives. Balkan countries, specifically Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, have the weakest results compared to other countries. Policymakers can benefit from the study’s findings to design better regulations and frameworks that promote responsible fintech practices and foster sustainable finance.

Practical Implications: Regulators and agencies responsible for measuring fintech and ESG should strive to align the indexes associated with these two domains as closely as possible. In addition, businesses can utilise the findings of this study to increase awareness about the diverse solutions that fintech offers to achieve the objectives of ESG.

The purpose of this study to brought new dimensions by inserting market conditions and investor sentiments as independent variable measure their impact on government policy formulation and sustainable development. This research also measures the moderating effective stakeholder engagement. Previous research has focused on demystifying the relationship between green bonds and sustainable development.

The analysis part of the research is initiated by factor analysis on the sample size of 100. After the construction of appropriate statements matching the research objective, it was circulated to the respondents of northern region of India. The sampling technique was random in nature through which data analysis on 700 respondents was done. For meeting research objectives present research applies PLS algorithm on the conceptual model framed through review of literature.

Out of all independent variables green bond issuance is having statistically significant impact on government policy formulation and investors’ sentiment is having statistically significant impact on sustainable development. Rest all other pairs are statistically insignificant. For an investor, it is necessary to understand that how its sentiments impacts government policy formulation and the health of ecology.

The research produced results with management implications for practitioners and policy makers that are very significant to the fields of sustainability, green finance and environmental policy. Green bonds also influence government policy, illustrating how green financing may revolutionize environmental laws and regulations.

The social implications of this revelation are considerable. The research enhances knowledge about sustainable development by emphasizing the importance of green bonds in supporting environmentally friendly activities. It allows for transparent reporting, increasing social accountability and reputation while attracting environmentally conscious consumers and fostering community trust. According to the survey, investor sentiment and their enthusiasm for eco-friendly investments may push more money to efforts that are good for society and the environment. This study enhances consciousness about sustainable finance, which has the potential to inspire beneficial social shifts towards a more environmentally and socially equitable future.

These social ramifications manifest themselves in various socioeconomic and environmental issues of the society in addition to credit and public policy. Second, it is evident that green bond emissions are influencing government policy, demonstrating the power of financial instruments to encourage environmentally beneficial social outcomes by providing officials with an incentive to modify environmental regulations.

As the cost of completing a transaction, the green merger and acquisition (M&A) premium paid on mergers can influence whether the acquisition creates value or not. However, studies linking M&A premiums to firm value have had mixed results, even fewer studies have examined the effect of green M&A premiums on bidders’ firm value. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how green M&A premiums affect firm value in the context of China’s heavy polluters.

Using 323 deals between 2008 and 2019 among China’s heavy polluters, this paper estimates with correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis.

Green M&A premiums are negatively associated with firm value. The results are more significant when firms adopt symbolic rather than substantive corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Robustness and endogeneity tests corroborate the findings. The negative relation is stronger when acquiring firms have low governmental subsidy and environmental regulation, when firms have overconfident management, when firms are state-owned and when green M&A occurs locally or among provinces in the same region. This study also analyzes agency cost as an intermediary in the relationship between green M&A premium and firm value, which lends support to the agency-view hypothesis.

This study provides systemic evidence that green M&A premiums damage firm value through agency cost channel and the choice of CSR strategies from the perspective of acquirers. These findings enrich the literature on both the economic consequences of green M&A premiums and the determinants of firm value and provide a plausible explanation for mixed findings on the relationship between green M&A premiums and firm value.

There is a dearth of empirical research examining the influence of various facets of sustainable banking on the environmental sustainability performance (SP) of banks in developing economies like Bangladesh. This study looks at how green banking practices (GBPs), green finance (GF) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices affect SP in both direct and indirect ways.

The research framework of this study was designed based on legitimacy theory to examine the direct and indirect impacts of GBP on environmental SP through GF and CSR practices. Based on a structured questionnaire and convenience sampling, the data were collected from banking institutions to investigate the association among the study variables. Subsequently, the obtained data were evaluated using a well-established structural equation modeling (SEM) approach via SmartPls 4.0 software.

The empirical findings reveal that GBP has a significant direct impact on GF, CSR practices and the banks' SP. Further, the findings show that GF has a direct and significant impact on CSR practices and SP. Likewise, CSR practices have a direct and significant influence on the SP of banks. Additionally, among indirect effects, both CSR practices and GF mediate the association between GBP and SP, whereas GF also has an indirect effect on the relationship between GBP and CSR practices. Surprisingly, the findings demonstrate that CSR practices do not have an indirect effect on the association between GF and SP. Hence, the greater the bank's involvement in green banking activities, the greater the influence of green financing and CSR practices on environmental sustainability.

This study adds to the growing body of research in the areas of sustainable banking and environmental sustainability literature by evaluating the link between GBP, CSR practices, GF and SP. Besides, this is a ground-breaking study that examines both direct and indirect effects of different aspects of sustainable banking (GBP, GF and CSR practices) on the SP of the banking industry in an emerging country like Bangladesh. On the theoretical level, it adds to the application and expansion of legitimacy theory in the sphere of banking and finance. It provides new insights into the dynamics of green banking, GF and CSR practices within the framework of legitimacy theory. Hence, the current study offers significant suggestions to managers, academicians and researchers on how to advance the sustainability of the banking industry by adopting green banking, GF and CSR practices.

Financial institutions, including banks, have their responsibilities to contribute towards the preservation of the environment. Green banking is an emerging concept that involves eco-friendly initiatives by banks and although Mauritius lacks a comprehensive regulatory framework for green banking, there exists a few green regulations and guidelines. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to critically analyse the existing legal and regulatory framework on green banking in Mauritius. It is expected that this study will showcase the need for some more robust and proper green banking legal and regulatory framework in Mauritius.

To achieve the research objective, a black-letter analysis is used to analyse the existing regulatory framework in Mauritius. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the current legal frameworks on green banking in countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and the UK is carried out.

This study recommends the establishment of a guideline or legal framework for green banking, a Sustainable Finance Policy, a legal binding framework for issuance of bonds, adoption of a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure guideline, compulsory environmental reporting and disclosures and a green standard rating.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the first literature on green banking laws, especially in the context of a developing country being Mauritius, and it is anticipated that the findings are of use not only to academics but also to the wider community in general.

Large-scale industrialization, growth and development have come at the cost of severe environmental degradation, primarily measured in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Apart from the several measures taken to reduce enviornmental degradation, provision of private capital is a necessity apart from the public capital. There is a debate on impact of carbon dioxide emissions with increase in affluence, technology, population and renewable energy. The purpose of the study is to look into the role of private equity investment on renewable energy and technological patents.

The study extends the use of stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence and technology model to include another factor for investments and capital, i.e. private equity along with renewable energy, population, technology and GDP growth on carbon emissions for the BRICS countries. The time period for the study is from 2002 to 2021, and the relationship between the variables has been tested using pooled mean group/autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified ordinary least squares and panel quantile regression.

First, the results depict a log-run relationship between the variables across the panel using cointegration. Private equity investments do not have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The study proposes important policy implications. There are two schools of thought on the impact of private equity on carbon emissions. For example, inherently private equity investments come with higher stakes and a shorter holding period because of which their primary focus remains on having higher returns instead of responsible investing. However, as private equity adds up to capital, which leads to an increase in productivity and eventually higher economic growth, this could affect carbon emissions. This study supports the first thought. Additionally, renewable energy also affects carbon emissions positively. The policymakers should look into the role and intent of the private equity investors in green investments and invest in technologies and patents that can lead to energy consumption.

The paper is the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to look into the impact of private equity on renewable energy and technological patents.

Eco-entrepreneurship is a topical issue in academic and professional literature over the past decade. In Africa, it is a relatively new concept fast gaining momentum with wide applicability and acceptance given its benefits in promoting consumer adoption of sustainable lifestyles, resilient environment, economic empowerment, and a win–win balance in the ecology and economy nexus. Amidst the growing impact of climate change and environmental degradation, eco-entrepreneurship has become a necessity, with emerging opportunities being in urban waste management, recycling, and renewable energy technologies. Regardless of the benefits of eco-entrepreneurship, regulatory and governance structures inform the viability of any initiatives. This chapter presents how political ecology structures intersect and impact eco-entrepreneurship in Africa. Given that nations’ approaches can differ, this study provides a case study synthesis of two major African economies namely Nigeria and South Africa. The authors document the predominant political orientation and attitude toward eco-entrepreneurship. First, the authors argue that the political environment is indifferent to the potential of the eco-entrepreneurial framework, hence applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Second is that the attention to eco-entrepreneurship by policymakers is economically inclined, they focus mainly on economic growth opportunities; equally, that eco-entrepreneurship offers opportunities for the protection of social and environmental integrity cannot be ignored. Third, is the bandwagon effect associated with eco-entrepreneurship initiatives, where the need to align with international bodies and states drives a Eurocentric concern? The authors conclude that fostering enabling policy environment can help enhance the productivity of current eco-entrepreneurial initiatives as well as attract new ones needed to explore eco-entrepreneurship benefits.

Climate change poses effect on banking sector’s risks and profitability through adaptation of green technology. This study aims to incorporates green technology adaptation in three sectors: green banking, green entrepreneurial innovation (EI) and green human resource (HR), in a model of bank’s performance. And determines the impact of climate change on bank risk and profitability.

An assessment of profitability and risk profile of commercial banks is done for 27 European countries for 2013–2022, employing a two-step difference system-generalized method of moments estimation technique with a moderate effect of climate change by including interaction between climate change and green technology adaptation.

The results indicate that green banking increases profitability, reduces credit risk and increases liquidity risk. The results also show that green human resource increases profitability and becomes a source of credit and liquidity risks for the banks. Green EI increases credit risk and liquidity risk, while the effects of green EI on profitability vary with the use of two proxies: Green patents increase profitability and environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) scores decrease profitability.

Supportive government initiatives, including subsidies and tax rebates to green borrowers, may take the burden of green transition off the banking sector.

This paper observes the impact of green technology adaptation in three sectors: banks, EI and HR, moderated by climate change, adding substantially to the existing literature in conceptual framework and methodology.

Driven by the development of the global digital economy, knowledge management in industrial enterprises offers more possibilities for green innovation. Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, this study aims to construct a panel regression model to explore the relationship between digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency.

Panel data from 30 regions in China from 2011 to 2020 were selected as research samples. All data are obtained from national and provincial statistical yearbooks. Coupling coordination degree analysis, entropy method, panel regression analysis, robustness test and threshold effect test by Stata 16.0 were used to test the hypotheses.

The empirical results demonstrate the hypotheses and reveal the following findings: the digital economy is positively related to industrial green innovation efficiency and external knowledge sources, and external knowledge sources mediate the relationship between them. Moreover, based on the threshold test results, the digital economy has a double-threshold effect on industrial green innovation efficiency.

Based on the perspective of external knowledge sources, the proposed mediating mechanism between the digital economy and industrial green innovation efficiency has not been established previously, further enriching the research on the antecedents and outcomes of external knowledge sources. Moreover, this study estimated the direct influence mechanism and double-threshold effect of the digital economy on industrial green innovation efficiency from theoretical and empirical analysis, thus responding to the call of scholars and adding to existing research on how the digital economy affects the green transformation of industrial enterprises.

This study aims to examine the factors that influence the increase in purchase intention toward green batik products with religiosity as an intervening variable.

The study used a survey method that involved a sample size of 185 participants selected through purposive and accidental sampling techniques. The analysis was conducted by using IBM SPSS AMOS 21 software. The collected data were subjected to path analysis using multiple linear regression models.

The result indicated that religiosity plays a mediating role in the association between factors and the intention to purchase green product (GPd) of the Indonesian natural dye batik product. This finding is in accordance with the construction of theory of planned behavior in understanding consumer purchase intentions. GPd, green brand and green price exhibited a positive correlation with green purchase intention (GPI). Interestingly, the price was found to no longer serve as the primary factor in GPI.

The analysis would have been more compelling if it had used a mixed-method approach by introducing the variables of customer satisfaction and promotion.

This research postulates that increased prices are no longer a deterrent to the purchase of GPd. Instead, consumer consciousness regarding GPd plays a pivotal role in driving GPI. GPd have revolutionized individuals’ consumption patterns to contribute to environmental preservation. The use of green batik products is seen as advantageous in helping mitigate environmental degradation.

The present research assesses the impact of religiosity, as an intervening variable, on the augmentation of GPI by gauging its significance in enhancing ecological consciousness and moral values.