Sustainability Practices, Corporate Value, and Financial Risk: Is There an Academic Consensus? A Systematic Bibliometric Review

Felippe Aparecido Cippiciani (), José Roberto Ferreira Savoia, Frédéric de Mariz and Daniel Reed Bergmann
Additional contact information
Felippe Aparecido Cippiciani: School of Economics, Business, Accounting and Actuary, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
José Roberto Ferreira Savoia: School of Economics, Business, Accounting and Actuary, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
Frédéric de Mariz: School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Daniel Reed Bergmann: School of Economics, Business, Accounting and Actuary, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil

JRFM, 2025, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: This study presents a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the relationship between sustainability practices—commonly framed within the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework—and both corporate value creation and financial risk mitigation. Our primary objective is to assess how ESG initiatives affect firm outcomes, with particular emphasis on risk reduction, a dimension less explored in the economic and financial literature. The search was conducted in the Web of Science database on 15 June 2024, using the keywords “ESG and Financial Risk” and “ESG and Valuation,” yielding 1074 initial records. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, we analyzed the final sample through descriptive and frequency-based methods. Findings reveal no clear consensus on the connection between ESG and value creation, with results varying across sectors, firm sizes, regions, and specific ESG components. In contrast, the evidence supporting the link between ESG practices and financial risk mitigation is stronger: 68% of the reviewed studies reported a positive relationship, while only 5% found negative effects. This review underscores the potential of sustainability as a risk-management mechanism and highlights research gaps that warrant deeper exploration. Limitations include heterogeneity of methodologies, metrics, and contexts among the studies reviewed.

Keywords: sustainability; ESG; financial risk; value creation; corporate strategy; risk management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/10/536/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/10/536/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:10:p:536-:d:1756679

Access Statistics for this article

JRFM is currently edited by Ms. Chelthy Cheng

More articles in JRFM from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().