Dear Colleagues,

Companies’ interventions have significant impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and societal well-being from national and international governments, organizations, and policymakers to local communities, individuals, and employers. These interventions have encouraged much more sustainable financial and business approaches (e.g., sustainable finance, green supply chains, green marketing, carbon taxes, and sustainability reporting) for sustainable economic development over the last few decades (Cohen, 2020; Fatemi and Fooladi, 2013; Gerstlberger et al., 2014; Hafezalkotob, 2017; Hassan et al., 2019). Thus, firms are increasingly engaging in innovative financial and business practices for sustainable development in order to corroborate their reputation and to generate positive impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems (Suriyankietkaew and Avery, 2016; Xu and Wang, 2018; Zhang and Chen, 2017). 

Despite extensive research on sustainable behavior and companies’ financial and business performance in recent years (Alshbili et al., 2019; Alshbili and Elamer, 2020; Elmagrhi et al., 2018), more research is called for on how to utilize sustainable financial and business practices to advance economic development in general from the viewpoints of governments, firms, and customers. Specifically, given the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, both firms and policymakers are calling for strong, sustained, cutting-edge research on sustainable financial and business practices for future biodiversity and ecosystems that improve sustainable economic development (Cohen, 2020; Hassan et al., 2020; Leal Filho et al., 2020; Sarkis et al., 2020). 

Furthermore, in recognition of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030, businesses and investors must make conscious efforts toward achieving transformational change through the SDGs. The “Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact” guide companies wanting to advance the SDG agenda by incorporating them widely into strategies and operations. The SDGs and the accompanying principles also require businesses to explore new business models in line with the supranational, regional, and national regulatory reforms in response to the SDGs.

The aim of this Special Issue is to discuss sustainable financial and business performance from a sustainable economic development perspective. It will set an agenda for future research and inform policymakers and managers about the opportunities and challenges that arise from sustainable financial and business performance and sustainable economic development. We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting comprehensive reviews, case studies, or empirical (qualitative and quantitative) articles. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer-review procedure with the aim of a rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

The Guest Editors of this Special Issue welcome submissions that address the following, but not limited to, issues:

• Sustainability and financial and business performance;
• Global reporting initiatives and corporate sustainability;
• Sustainability and corporate governance issues and challenges;
• Financial and business practices to reduce climate change;
• Education on sustainable financial and business performance and sustainable finance;
• Sustainability reporting;
• Sustainable finance;
• Digital divide and the sustainability challenges facing businesses;
• Distributional consequences of piece-meal sustainability reforms;
• Taxation dimension to sustainable business models: tax considerations, initiatives, and challenges.

These issues are meant to be illustrative. Submissions from a wide range of disciplines, theoretical perspectives, organizational contexts, and regions on any topic that relates to the Special Issue theme are encouraged.

Dr. Ahmed Elamer
Dr. Santosh Koirala
Dr. Sandeep Rao
Guest Editors

References

1. Alshbili, I, Elamer, A., and Beddewela, E. (2019). Ownership types, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility disclosures: empirical evidence from a developing country, Accounting Research Journal, 33(1), 148–166.
2. Alshbili, I and Elamer, A. A. (2020). The influence of institutional context on corporate social responsibility disclosure: a case of a developing country. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 10(3), 269–293.
3. Cohen, M. J. (2020). Does the COVID-19 outbreak mark the onset of a sustainable consumption transition? Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy, 16(1), 1–3.
4. Elmagrhi, M. H., Ntim, C. G., Elamer, A. A., and Zhang, Q. (2018). A study of environmental policies and regulations, governance structures, and environmental performance: the role of female directors. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(1), 206–220.
5. Fatemi, A. M. and Fooladi, I. J. (2013). Sustainable finance: a new paradigm. Global Finance Journal, 24(2), 101–113.
6. Gerstlberger, W., Praest Knudsen, M., and Stampe, I. (2014). Sustainable development strategies for product innovation and energy efficiency. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23(2), 131–144.
7. Hafezalkotob, A. (2017). Competition, cooperation, and coopetition of green supply chains under regulations on energy saving levels. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 97, 228–250.
8. Hassan, A., Adhikariparajuli, M., Fletcher, M., and Elamer, A. A. (2019). Integrated reporting in UK higher education institutions. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 10(5), 844–876.
9. Hassan, A. M., Roberts, L., and Atkins, J. (2020). Exploring factors relating to extinction disclosures: what motivates companies to report on biodiversity and species protection? Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(3), 1419–1436.
10. Leal Filho, W., Brandli, L. L., Lange Salvia, A., Rayman-Bacchus, L., and Platje, J. (2020). COVID-19 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Threat to Solidarity or an Opportunity? Sustainability, 12(13), 5343.
11. McLaughlin, C., Elamer, A. A., Glen, T., AlHares, A., and Gaber, H. R. (2019). Accounting society’s acceptability of carbon taxes: expectations and reality. Energy Policy, 131, 302–311.
12. Sarkis, J., Cohen, M. J., Dewick, P., and Schröder, P. (2020). A brave new world: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for transitioning to sustainable supply and production. Resources, Conservation, and Recycling. 159. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104894.
13. Suriyankietkaew, S. and Avery, G. (2016). Sustainable Leadership Practices Driving Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from Thai SMEs. Sustainability, 8(4), 327.
14. Xu, J. and Wang, B. (2018). Intellectual Capital, Financial Performance, and Companies’ Sustainable Growth: Evidence from the Korean Manufacturing Industry. Sustainability, 10(12), 4651.
15. Zhang, K. Q. and Chen, H. H. (2017). Environmental Performance and Financing Decisions Impact on Sustainable Financial Development of Chinese Environmental Protection Enterprises. Sustainability, 9(12), 2260.

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• financial performance
• sustainability performance
• sustainable finance
• climate change
• sustainability reporting
• economic development
• sustainable development goals (SDGs)
• stakeholder engagement
• sustainable business models