IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/pal/psifcp/978-3-031-97499-1_2.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Foundations of Sustainable Finance: Theory and Practice

In: The Sustainable Finance Operating System

Author

Listed:
  • Wolfgang Spiess-Knafl

    (Munich Business School)

Abstract

This chapter explores the theoretical foundations and practical applications underpinning sustainable finance. It begins by examining the historical evolution and ongoing debate surrounding corporate purpose, contrasting traditional shareholder primacy with broader stakeholder perspectives and exploring different theoretical arguments. The chapter traces the evolving definition of sustainable finance, mapping its journey from early ethical exclusions (“sin stocks”) to the comprehensive integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors and the targeted approach of impact investing aligned with goals like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Building on these foundations, the chapter analyzes the mechanisms through which various stakeholders exert influence to drive corporate change toward sustainability. The chapter then explores the impacts of sustainable finance on capital markets, detailing how ESG considerations are reshaping equity valuations, debt instruments (like green and social bonds) as well as the overall cost of capital for companies. Finally, the chapter provides a snapshot of the sustainable finance market, outlining its current size, growth trends, dominant players, evolving fee structures and key asset allocation patterns across equities, fixed income, and alternatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang Spiess-Knafl, 2025. "Foundations of Sustainable Finance: Theory and Practice," Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance, in: The Sustainable Finance Operating System, chapter 0, pages 31-49, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:psifcp:978-3-031-97499-1_2
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-97499-1_2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a
    for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:pal:psifcp:978-3-031-97499-1_2. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    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.