Essential Concepts of Sustainable Finance

This book compiles and explains technical terms in sustainable finance in an easy-to-navigate A-Z format.

The interdisciplinary nature of sustainable finance means that those researching and working in the field often have to turn to a variety of different sources to look up various non-financial terms. Recognizing this issue, Ibrahim Sancak and Elisa Aracil have curated a comprehensive list of the key terms most commonly used in the field. Each entry maps out an important concept or idea and illustrates how it relates more broadly across this growing discipline, such as the changes and innovations required by the financial sector to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Overall, Essential Concepts of Sustainable Finance will enable readers to communicate more effectively about finance within the context of sustainability.

With related terms and further reading included alongside the entries, this innovative and accessible volume will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

Elisa Aracil is a professor of business and economics and a researcher at Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica in Universidad Pontificia Comillas Madrid (Spain). She has worked in investment banking for more than ten years. Her research focuses on sustainable banks, innovation and digital transformation, corporate social responsibility, financial inclusion, and the role of finance in mitigating societal grand challenges. She has published her work in scientific journals such as the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Cleaner Production, Finance Research Letters, Business Strategy and the Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Business Ethics: A European Review, Business Strategy and Development, Sustainability, and the International Journal of Emerging Markets. She participates in various research projects at the national and international levels, funded by the European Commission, and is the Director of the CaixaBank Chair of Sustainable Economy.

Ibrahim Sancak is both an academic and a finance professional with more than 20 years of financial industry-related experience. He served as the founding director of the Market Oversight and Enforcement Division at the Capital Markets Board of Turkey. Dr. Sancak joined the ZWIRN-Research Center of the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences (Germany) as a professor of finance in February 2019. Since then, he has been actively conducting scientific research in sustainable finance and digital finance. In 2020, he took part in delivering a sustainability management guide for Bankenfachverband, a key financial industry association in Germany. He teaches the "Economic Thinking and Sustainable Finance" course of the Sustainability & Risk Management (MSc) program at the university. He also teaches at various European universities, including the University of Roma Tre in Italy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master of business administration from Ankara University (Turkey), a master of science in finance from the George Washington University (the US), and a PhD in banking from Marmara University (Turkey). Professor Sancak also holds three certificates from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on market regulation and supervision.