ESG research: a comprehensive and contemporary review

Cheng Few Lee; Zhiru Lin; Yiyuan Wang; Chunchi Wu; Wenhan Yang

doi:10.1007/s11156-026-01546-1

ESG research: a comprehensive and contemporary review

Cheng Few Lee
, Zhiru Lin
, Yiyuan Wang
, Chunchi Wu
, Wenhan Yang

Finance

Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
DePauw University
SUNY Buffalo
Zhejiang Gongshang University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the rapidly expanding literature on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. In this survey, we highlight recent advances in both theoretical modeling and empirical analysis. We first review major theoretical ESG models. Following this, we survey empirical research in six key areas: (1) climate risk and insurance, (2) regulation and policy, (3) ESG in the asset management industry and SRI, (4) investment, consumption, and employment, (5) ESG disclosure and assurance, and (6) firm valuation: profitability, cost of capital, and asset pricing. While significant progress has been made in understanding the impact of ESG factors on firm behavior and market outcomes, we find important gaps remain and suggest future research directions.

Original language	English
Journal	Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11156-026-01546-1
State	Accepted/In press - 2026

Keywords

Climate risks
Disclosure
ESG
Regulation
Social responsibility
Sustainability

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10.1007/s11156-026-01546-1

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AU - Lee, Cheng Few

AU - Lin, Zhiru

AU - Wang, Yiyuan

AU - Wu, Chunchi

AU - Yang, Wenhan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2026.

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KW - Regulation

KW - Social responsibility

KW - Sustainability

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ESG research: a comprehensive and contemporary review

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Keywords

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