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In February 2022, the Finance Minister of India in the Union Budget 2022 announced that the government proposed to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilize assets for green infrastructure. These bonds are a sort of fixed-income instrument where the money raised from investors is used exclusively to finance projects having a positive environmental impact. The announcement was in sync with India's commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. However, many issues come with it such as the complexity of green data, and the lack of uniform standards to measure the impact of green investments leading to allegations of “greenwashing,” among others. Its solution lies in the digital tokenization of green bonds using blockchain technology. Foreign investors scout for green bonds issued by growing markets like India, which have attractive valuations and good growth prospects. Marketing and issuing green bonds properly would have a far greater potential to bring investment to the security markets and the much-needed advancement in the sustainable sector. It is much more likely that green bonds will bring investment to the security markets and much-needed advancement to the sustainable sector if they are marketed and issued through digital tokenization. Financial regulators and policymakers can create a global framework for the application of blockchain technology in sustainable finance. This might entail tokenizing eco-friendly assets, issuing eco-friendly bonds, trading renewable energy and 2-2 carbon credits in a decentralized ecosystem, and decentralizing crowdfunding for eco-friendly enterprises.

This chapter seeks to demonstrate how blockchain technology can help issue green bonds and increase the overall efficiency of green finance in the economy. It also aims to scrutinize how such digital tokenization of green bonds would affect the security market and increase the standards of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) worldwide. While discussing how this process is shaping up and impacting the economies of various countries, it also seeks to provide suggestions to be taken into consideration while adopting the digital tokenization of green bonds.

This study proposes a theoretical model for measuring the greenness factors of a firm. We develop the multifactor utility function and find that the proportion of investment in green bonds is higher if greenness factors account for by a firm and vice versa. Moreover, we further develop the global aspects of greenness measures which identify how much level of greenness is maintained by a firm to make the environment green. In terms of reduction in emissions based on global measures, we report that the proportion of investment in green bonds is higher. This study argues that the difference between firm-related and global measures of greenness refers to distortion in portfolio allocation. Lastly, we compare the results of five Asian countries and report that Japanese firms are appropriately following the greenness measures while the firms operating in developing countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand are far behind in implementing the greenness measures.

The concept of sustainability started to be discussed in the twentieth century and lately has become an international concept for the social, economic, and environmental strategies and international agreements. In the path of sustainable development, green economics gained importance in international platforms. Sustainable finance includes environmental, social, and economic principles into decision-making processes, economic development, and investment strategies of the economic actors. The importance and volume of the use of green finance tools have risen in the last decades.

The proverbial administrative complexity of Paris and its region, which also includes a metropolitan authority since 2016, has not prevented multiple and rapid changes to take place in the last decade. A national government decision has initiated the construction of a new regional metropolitan public transportation infrastructure that has leveraged more than €15 billions of green bonds. Mounting environmental challenges are triggering new societal priorities and legal changes, heightened by the COVID-19 crisis context. Since 2014, projects and plans led by local governments to value nature-based solutions (NBS) have met a rising interest from national and international investors and developers, in a context of multiple climate and biodiversity initiatives from the private sector and the civil society. However, assessing their long-term value remains a challenge for both governments and researchers while the calls for nature to remain a common good stir new forms of vigorous social engagement. The Paris case shows that the art of creating NBS that maximize biodiversity and support CO₂ reduction at large metropolitan scale depends on two priorities. The first is strengthening global commitments. The second is refocusing existing massive investments in grey infrastructure systems, so far major drivers of public investments, as infrastructure for distribution, unlocking local biodiversity valuation potential, and supporting social innovation.

The main objective of this chapter is to figure out various challenges emerging, or transition economies face in fostering sustainable finance. In this regard, extensive review of the extant and relevant literature is conducted with specification of time range, online database, and keywords. The findings suggest the various financing barriers experienced by emerging and transition economies in implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Furthermore, this chapter triggers further debate on green financing initiatives that can help in dealing with the challenges of sustainable finance. It is found that green financing initiatives offer significant solutions in emerging and transition economies. In addition, this chapter provides policy implications to academia, practitioners, financial institutions, and government agencies to promote sustainable finance.

The essence of finance has become essential in the sustainability discussion in recent times as a result of the capital intensive nature of sustainable projects. This has motivated financial experts and institutions to develop various financial instruments and mechanisms to further advance the course of protecting the environment, and decreasing the release of excess carbon and GreenHouse Gases. This is to also provide the opportunity for funding Green or sustainable infrastructure development. This chapter advances a discourse on matters relating to sustainable financing of infrastructure projects. The fundamentals of sustainable or green funding of infrastructure projects, and sustainable schemes of financing green infrastructure projects are discussed.

Development pathways for Latin American and the Caribbean countries have been the subject of debates, analyses and controversies. For several decades, countries in this region have struggled with structural barriers to development associated with social inequalities, political turmoil, colonialism, corruption and a dependence on exploiting natural resources, among others. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened some of those obstacles, which when added to the global climate crisis and its environmental impact, leaves the region in a highly stressed situation, with many of its countries on the edge of a deep economic depression. This chapter discusses some of the socioeconomic challenges that Latin America and the Caribbean currently face; the roles of COVID-19 and climate crises on these challenges and some opportunities for recovery.

There is a long-going discussion in Russia focusing on finding new stimulus for economic growth. Being very rich with natural recourses, Russia has enjoyed extensive economic growth model for many centuries. The world is changing. Russia as any country which is to keep up with the dynamics and the quality of the world economic growth must find some new technologies and economic triggers. Green investment can be regarded as the key instrument to achieve faster economic growth and to make technological gap narrower. The chapter focuses on state policy and business practice in green investment in Russia.

This chapter stands for justification of growing demand for supporting new theoretical and methodological approaches in development of an actual green economy’s financial framework taking into consideration modern growing risks in the ecological, economic, social, and geopolitical environments. A notable increase in environmental expenditures of both national economies and international financial institutions is determined by the global state of the economy. The climate change has been caused by escalating the energy supply struggle, the nature exhaustion, and the need for providing balance to the market stating green economy regulators. The main aim of this chapter is to study the trends and the key state green finance regulation points. The research goal could be achieved through highlighting the nature of green finance and its framework; studying the concept of green finance and innovative financial tools’ development, providing green economy’s development; and spotting trends and imperatives of regional regulation of green finance. This chapter highlights the necessity for implementing complex systemic and methodologic approaches in making the green finance framework, summarizing leading practices in green funding and green economy’s funds raising, considering limits in green finance tools’ utilization in current conditions, strengthening the power of both federal and regional authorities in solving financial problems of energy saving, and extending the practices of companies and institutions’ green financial tools’ utilization. The necessity for a green sustainable development across the globe has driven this research to use different types of instruments to point out the benefits of such a development. In addition, green finance state regulation tools have been proposed.