Green Finance and Sustainable Development: A Systematic Literature Review

• Theo Richardson

  Author

Green finance has rapidly matured from a niche concept into a central pillar of the global sustainable-development agenda. This systematic literature review synthesises the empirical, conceptual and policy-oriented scholarship on green finance published between 2014 and 2026, with a particular emphasis on its interaction with the Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on PRISMA-style sourcing across major academic databases, the review analyses 50+ peer-reviewed studies, working papers and authoritative institutional reports. The findings are organised around five thematic clusters: (i) the institutional architecture of green finance, including green bonds, green credit, ESG investing, carbon pricing, and sustainable taxonomies; (ii) environmental outcomes, especially CO₂ mitigation, energy efficiency and renewable-energy deployment; (iii) corporate-level ESG disclosure and firm performance; (iv) macro-level effects on economic growth, sustainable industrialisation and financial stability; and (v) social outcomes, including poverty reduction, inequality and the notion of a "just transition." The review confirms a generally positive, but heterogeneous and non-linear, relationship between green finance and sustainable development. It also surfaces critical challenges, e.g., greenwashing, ESG rating divergence, data fragmentation, regional asymmetries and the absence of universally accepted taxonomies, and highlights the moderating roles of infrastructure quality, governance and technological innovation (especially fintech). The paper concludes by outlining an integrated research agenda that combines behavioural, structural and institutional perspectives to scale green finance.

• PDF

Copyright (c) 2026 Review of Economic & Managerial Studies

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Allows users to: distribute and copy the article; create extracts, abstracts, and other revised versions, adaptations or derivative works of or from an article (such as a translation); include in a collective work (such as an anthology); and text or data mine the article. These uses are permitted even for commercial purposes, provided the user: gives appropriate credit to the author(s) (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI); includes a link to the license; indicates if changes were made; and does not represent the author(s) as endorsing the adaptation of the article or modify the article in such a way as to damage the authors' honor or reputation.