IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025is1p1459-1471.html

FinTech Innovations for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Literature Review and Future Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Uwakmfon Promise Offiong
  • Katarzyna Szopik‐Depczyńska
  • Giuseppe Ioppolo

Abstract

The integration of FinTech and sustainability is increasingly important due to the need for sustainable development and a greener economy. Blockchain, AI, and big data analytics are revolutionizing business, but their potential for advancing sustainable practices is understudied. To conduct a thorough analysis of the current body of literature about the role of FinTech innovations for sustainable development, pinpointing significant patterns, obstacles, and prospects within this ever‐evolving domain and identifying thematic clusters. In addition to filling knowledge gaps, this research will suggest future directions for investigation that will advance our comprehension of how FinTech might promote sustainable development. A comprehensive review (based on the publications indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases). The framework involves consolidating the literature using VOS viewer software to identify gaps extracted from primary literature on the topic under review to suggest future research directions. The review shows that through improving resource efficiency, lowering carbon footprints, and fostering accessible green products and services, FinTech innovations have a great deal of potential to advance sustainable development. Critical gaps in the literature are identified by the study, including the need for additional empirical research. The findings not only map the intellectual structure of the field but also provide a future research agenda aimed at guiding scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. What sets this review apart is its explicit focus on surfacing emerging and underexplored research gaps, including stakeholder co‐creation, gender disparities in FinTech access, scaling digital social entrepreneurship, and ESG integration in African contexts. Rather than summarizing known findings, this paper presents a narrative‐driven roadmap for advancing future inquiry. The findings contribute to both theory and practice by revealing how FinTech can more effectively support sustainable development through inclusive, targeted, and regionally adaptive innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Uwakmfon Promise Offiong & Katarzyna Szopik‐Depczyńska & Giuseppe Ioppolo, 2025. "FinTech Innovations for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Literature Review and Future Directions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(S1), pages 1459-1471, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:s1:p:1459-1471
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.70068
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70068
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.70068?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monk, Alexander & Perkins, Richard, 2020. "What explains the emergence and diffusion of green bonds?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Folorunsho M. Ajide, 2016. "Financial Innovation and Sustainable Development in Selected Countries in West Africa," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 12(3), pages 85-111.
    3. Ayse Demir & Vanesa Pesqué-Cela & Yener Altunbas & Victor Murinde, 2022. "Fintech, financial inclusion and income inequality: a quantile regression approach," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 86-107, January.
    4. Sofya Glavina & Irina Aidrus & Anna Trusova, 2021. "Assessment of the Competitiveness of Islamic Fintech Implementation: A Composite Indicator for Cross-Country Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Rasmus Lema & Erika Kraemer-Mbula & Marija Rakas, 2021. "Innovation in developing countries: examining two decades of research," Innovation and Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2-3), pages 189-210, September.
    6. HOROBEȚ Alexandra & MNOHOGHITNEI Irina & BELAȘCU Lucian & CROITORU Ionuț Marius, 2023. "Esg Reporting And Capital Market Investors: Insights From The Global Technology And Fintech Industries," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 18(2), pages 178-195, August.
    7. Elinor Benami & Michael R. Carter, 2021. "Can digital technologies reshape rural microfinance? Implications for savings, credit, & insurance," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(4), pages 1196-1220, December.
    8. Chang'an Wang & Long Wang & Shikuan Zhao & Cunyi Yang & Khaldoon Albitar, 2024. "The impact of Fintech on corporate carbon emissions: Towards green and sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 5776-5796, September.
    9. Arvind Ashta, 2023. "How Can Fintech Companies Get Involved in the Environment?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Hossein Ali Fakher & Zahoor Ahmed, 2023. "Does financial development moderate the link between technological innovation and environmental indicators? An advanced panel analysis," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Zhigang Weng & Yubao Cai & Siqi Weng & Chun Zuo, 2024. "Research on the Sustainable Evolution Mechanism of Dual-Dimensional Convergence Innovation in Digital Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-28, August.
    12. Orkun Bayram & Isilay Talay & Mete Feridun, 2022. "Can Fintech Promote Sustainable Finance? Policy Lessons from the Case of Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    13. Maxwell Chukwudi Udeagha & Marthinus Christoffel Breitenbach, 2023. "Exploring the moderating role of financial development in environmental Kuznets curve for South Africa: fresh evidence from the novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-52, December.
    14. Farid Ullah & Ma Degong & Muhammad Anwar & Saddam Hussain & Rizwan Ullah, 2021. "Supportive tactics for innovative and sustainability performance in emerging SMEs," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-31, December.
    15. Minli Yu & Fu-Sheng Tsai & Hui Jin & Hejie Zhang, 2022. "Digital finance and renewable energy consumption: evidence from China," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yan, Kai & Zhang, Ziyi & Yang, Lisi & Cao, Yuqiang & Shan, Yaowen, 2024. "Capital generates green: Evidence from China's national innovation system policy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Ding, Qingfeng & Rao, Yulei & Dai, Yifei, 2025. "Can digital financial inclusion alleviate energy poverty? Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    3. Hasan, Morshadul & Hoque, Ariful & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Gasbarro, Dominic, 2024. "FinTech and sustainable development: A systematic thematic analysis using human- and machine-generated processing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PC).
    4. Gang Li, 2023. "Digital Inequality and Household Income Distribution: Evidence from Rural China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(6), pages 3061-3087, December.
    5. Tugba Nur & Emre E. Topaloglu & Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente & Serkan Sahin & Ladislav Pilar & Ilhan Ege, 2026. "The impact of financial innovation, economic complexity, and green technologies on natural resource management in eu countries," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 1-42, December.
    6. Anna Iwona Piotrowska & Dariusz Piotrowski, 2025. "Green FinTech: A Consumer Awareness Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-18, April.
    7. Arnone, Massimo & Leogrande, Angelo, 2024. "The Sustainability Of The Factoring Chain In Europe In The Light Of The Integration Of Esg Factors," OSF Preprints 753gf, Center for Open Science.
    8. Muhammad Salam & Xu Yingzhi & Muhammad Zubair Chishti & Muhammad Kamran Khan, 2025. "Trade, financial development and the environment: analysis of BRI countries having direct connectivity with China," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 1-29, December.
    9. Gang Li, 2025. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Digital Technology Utilization on Rural Household Income: Evidence from China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 7325-7349, June.
    10. Zhou, Wei & Chen, Yan & Zhang, Cesheng, 2025. "How does FinTech promote the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption in China?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    11. Guillaume Edou Tchidi & Wei Zhang, 2025. "Mediating effect of financial inclusion on FinTech innovations and economic development in West Africa: Evidence from the Benin Republic," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1032-1048, April.
    12. Diana Escandon-Barbosa & Agustin Ramirez & Jairo Salas-Paramo, 2022. "The Effect of Cultural Orientations on Country Innovation Performance: Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Revisited?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, May.
    13. Quentin Stoeffler & Michael Carter & Catherine Guirkinger & Wouter Gelade, 2022. "The Spillover Impact of Index Insurance on Agricultural Investment by Cotton Farmers in Burkina Faso," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 114-140.
    14. Jiao, Anqi & Sun, Ran & Ren, Honglin, 2025. "Navigating climate policy: Corporate lobbying strategies in response to intensified climate risk exposure," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Zheng, Mingbo & Zhang, Xinyu, 2025. "Digitalization and renewable energy development: Analysis based on cross-country panel data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    16. Boniface Ngah EPO & Jules Médard NANA DJOMO & Mark Wiykiynyuy TANGWA & Éric Dieudonné OBAMA OBAMA, 2023. "Threshold effect of banking on income inequalities in developing countries: the importance of mobile money," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/073, African Governance and Development Institute..
    17. Ning, Jiajun & Xiong, Lixin, 2024. "Analysis of the dynamic evolution process of the digital transformation of renewable energy enterprises based on the cooperative and evolutionary game model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    18. Fang, Shuya & Fang, Wei, 2023. "How fiscal decentralization and trade diversification influence sustainable development: Moderating role of resources dependency," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Guosong Wang & Huizhen Zhang, 2025. "FinTech-Driven Corporate Sustainability: A Technology–Organization–Environment Framework Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-28, September.
    20. LIU Xiangling & Md Qamruzzaman, 2024. "The role of ICT investment, digital financial inclusion, and environmental tax in promoting sustainable energy development in the MENA region: Evidences with Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCE) and instrumental variable-adjusted DCE," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-30, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:s1:p:1459-1471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.