Building a Better Future with Sustainable Investments: Insights from Recent Research

Investing in sustainable businesses not only increases financial returns but also adds to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) value by solving social and environmental issues while promoting economic growth and human development. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to present a systematic literature review, analyse the relevant literature, identify emerging themes and to suggest future research areas related to sustainable investments. To accomplish this exercise, seventy-two research papers published between 2014 and 2022 were meticulously selected from the Web of Science database using the PRISMA protocol and which were then analysed using R-studio’s Biblioshiny 2.0 and VOSviewer. The findings revealed that sustainable investments play a critical role in investment decision-making and promoting sustainable development which is evidenced by the growing number of research papers published on this domain. Furthermore, the citation analysis facilitated the identification of the most influential works in the field, while thematic mapping identified dominant themes such as ‘sustainable investments’ and ‘sustainable development’ as well-matured theme, ‘ESG investing’ as an emerging theme, ‘portfolio selection’ as a niche theme and ‘ESG financial performance’ as a motor theme. In addition, the authors proposed a framework titled, ‘Barriers, Mitigation Strategies and Opportunities’ to guide future research and overcome obstacles in sustainable investments.