Financial and Technological Innovation for Sustainability

The COVID-19 crisis has proven that sustainability of an institution or organization requires a constant review of one's strategic positioning and the execution of pertinent plans in response to evolving externalities. Resilient organizations continue to revive themselves through effective R&D and the renewal of their range of products and services. Financial and Technological Innovation for Sustainability: Environmental, Social and Governance Performance examines approaches to sustainability under the ongoing development of energy sustainability and the green finance initiatives. It unveils global heterogeneous efforts in achieving Environmental Social Governance (ESG) performance in light of climate change, global sustainability and concerns over corporate "greenwashing". The book assembles a wealth of case studies from a variety of contemporary organizations that actively pursue sustainable development while seeking their next economic growth. These global cases demonstrate the salience of governance that institutes continuous advancements to enable the timely revitalization of corporate strategies, technological innovation and deployment of financial resources for sustainability transformation regardless of their stages of lifecycle. They reveal distinct approaches to financial and technological innovation in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America in pursuing the shared UN Sustainable Development Goals. The intertwined public-private partnership and implications of geopolitics under an evolving global financial system for sustainability transformation are articulated. This book will appeal to academics as well as business and finance professionals, who are keen to understand the interrelationship between financial and technological innovation, and to those who want to comprehend the underlying global challenges and opportunities of adopting emerging technologies to reinvent a business model that forges measurable and impactful ESG performances.

Artie Ng is the inaugural Dean and a Professor of the International Business University based in Toronto and was a Senior Research Fellow with Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE). Jatin Nathwani is currently a Fellow and leads the Research Cluster 'STEM for Global Resilience' at the Balsillie Scholl for International Affairs (BSIA), and was the founding Executive Director of, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) and the inaugural Ontario Research Chair in Public Policy for Sustainable Energy (2007-2020).

Section I Introduction 1. Exploiting financial and technological innovation for sustainability transformation Section II Cases in America, Europe, and Africa 2. Emerging technological innovation of renewable energies through cleantech ventures: The complementary role of venture capital 3. Social bond as an innovative financial instrument for ESG initiatives: The case of Toronto 4. Sustainable development of solar power for the European transition to renewable energy: The case of the Czech Republic 5. Scaling renewable energy capacities for sustainability in Africa: Cases of innovative financing options Section III Cases in Asia Pacific 6. Sustainable finance to support climate action in Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia 7. Turning ESG agenda into action through new product development in Japan: The roles of sustainability management control system 8. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives and development in Taiwan 9. Financing technological infrastructure and knowledge transfer for green innovation in the Greater Bay Area of China 10. Design and implementation of electric vehicle transport system: Cases of metropolises in Asia Pacific Section IV Conclusions 11. Prospects for global sustainability transformation: Political economy of an industrializing world