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This paper aims to examine the Canadian financial sector’s reaction to opportunities and risks created by the green bond market in a low-carbon and climate-resilient (LCR) economy.

The authors used a concurrent mixed methodological approach that undertakes an online survey and semistructured interviews with critical green bond market stakeholders.

The most significant market driver in Canada is the reputational benefit for stakeholders, i.e. its ability to meet the high demand for sustainable finance and the marketing potential of its green credentials. The major market barriers are transactional costs, i.e. additional tracking required for reporting purposes, lack of market liquidity and identification of environmental impact or additionality. Canadian green bonds are also more likely to be evaluated on their green impact than their global market peers.

Limitations of this study include its focus on Canada, which may exclude or not apply to drivers and barriers in other green bond markets.

The paper helps create an accounting-based conceptual framework for key motivations and barriers that affect financial decision-making regarding green bonds.

The authors identify economic and policy-related barriers and drivers for green bonds, addressing the financing gap for the LCR economy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to identify and compare Canadian green bond market drivers and barriers and to examine relevant stakeholder- and policy-related approaches that can be targeted to scale this market effectively.

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.

After almost 10 years, people wonder if green finance has been able to attain its objectives in terms of controlling climate change. Persistent global warming and climate deregulation manifested by melting glaciers, droughts and floods, are all of these determinants that have called into question the efficiency of green finance.

Green finance is a way to support climate action through investments. It has proven that this is a viable financial instrument and that it can be used by governments and private companies to plan for the future of our planet.

Based on an analysis of articles published in top international journals from 2016 to 2022, about the relationship between green technology and financial services in China, this paper aims to present an overview of green finance, its importance for the planet, its objectives and its instruments.

This study’s contribution is to shed light on the aspects that may have limited its effectiveness, such as the absence of incentives, the absence of climate costs and above all the absence of finance green standards.

The results have shown that there is still a significant gap in green finance before inclusive green growth can be achieved. Inclusive green growth. All stakeholders need to increase the level of investment in green finance. The green investment financing gap is the result of inconsistencies in sustainability and policies. Therefore, governments must intervene to impose appropriate policies and regulations to compel the financial sector to engage in sustainable development. All of these factors make the concept of green finance just an illusion.

This study aims to explore how organisations use institutional language in Green Bond reports to explain and justify their activities using language that describes and reflects narratives while simultaneously constructing and shaping ideology. The paper mobilises Wodak and Meyer’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine reports and related documentation relating to Green Bonds issued in France.

The study uses three legitimating discourses: technocratic, environmental and social and business performance to develop a linguistic perspective that permits contributions to existing knowledge in the area.

The analysis attempts to identify the discursive strategies used to legitimise Green Bond issuance via claims linked to environmental management improvements and business activities’ social impact.

The study contributes to the critical literature on organisational legitimation and responsibility, investigations of Green Bond narratives and an understanding of broader environmental reporting in the financial sector.

This paper aims to investigate the long-run financial and environmental performance of corporate green bond issuers, worldwide.

The data includes 259 corporate green bond issuers from 2013 to 2020. The authors adopt the matching approach, using the nearest neighbor method to select the control firms. The event-time approach is used to examine corporate green bond issuers’ long-run stock market performance, and robustness tests are conducted using the calendar-time method. The authors examine green bond issuers’ long-run environmental performance and carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ emissions using difference-in-differences estimations.

In contrast with the earlier long-run event studies, our results reveal that multiple-time issuers, and issuers operating in industries where the natural environment is financially material, perform financially in the long term relative to the control firms. The authors also document that corporate green bond issuers reduce their CO₂ emissions, and improve their resource use efficiency and environmental performance, in the long run.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that looks at the long-run effect of corporate green bond issuance on firms’ stock market performance. It has the particularity to document that corporate green bond issuance is beneficial for investors and positively affects the environment. Our findings help us understand that firms do not issue green bonds for greenwashing.

Green sukuk (GS) is an emerging financial tool that has gained momentum in recent years owing to increased attention being given to Islamic finance, socially responsible investing (SRI) and sustainability agendas. Yet, GS studies are fragmented, dispersed and lack comprehensive reviews. As a response to this gap in academia, this paper aims to synthesize the knowledge on GS into thematic clusters, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the subject and offering guidelines for future research.

This study implemented a systematic literature review approach to analyse studies on GS that were published prior to and including June 2023. The PRISMA 2020 protocol was used in the sample selection process. A total of 62 peer-reviewed journal articles from six databases were identified and categorized into various themes.

The results suggest that previous research has predominantly focused on the areas of GS advantages, drivers, market development and potential sectors, along with challenges and recommendations to improve the market. However, it was found that some other aspects, including GS pricing, performance and purchasing intention, require further research attention. The analysis also indicated that the use of theories in the GS context was limited, with only five theories employed in just four out of the 62 articles examined. Moreover, this paper’s findings revealed that the studies employing quantitative and empirical analysis methods were limited to four articles. Geographically, most of the studies were conducted in Indonesia and Malaysia, while other countries with high-potential markets (e.g. GCC) had limited GS practices and studies.

The results of this study have several practical implications. For investors, a review of GS will provide greater insight into the understanding of the GS market, helping them make better investment decisions. For policymakers, this paper empowers them with the knowledge to make informed decisions regarding GS markets by highlighting key recommendations identified in the literature. Finally, the proposed guidelines can be used in future research.

While Green Bonds have received significant attention, there is a dearth of research on GS and those that exist are fragmented. A systematic literature review is necessary to identify knowledge gaps for future research.

This study explores the interconnectedness and complexity of risk-varied climate initiatives such as green bonds (GBs), emissions trading systems (ETS) and socially responsible investments (SRI). The analysis covers the period from September 2011 to August 2022, using six indices: three representing climate initiatives and three indicating uncertainty.

To achieve this, the study first examines dynamic lead-lag relations and correlation patterns in the time-frequency domain to analyse the returns of the series. Additionally, it applies an innovative approach to investigate the predictability of uncertainty measurements of climate initiatives across various market conditions and frequency spillovers in the short, medium and long run.

The findings indicate changing relationships between the series, increased linkages during turbulent market periods and strong co-movements within the network. The ETS is recommended for diversification and hedging against uncertainty indices, whereas the GB may be suitable for long-term diversification.

This study highlights the role of climate initiatives as potential hedges and contagion amplifiers during crises, with implications for policy recommendations and the asymmetric effects on market connectedness.

The paper answers questions that previous studies have not and contributes to the literature regarding financial risk management and social responsibility.

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.