Green Taxonomy Research: A Bibliometric Mapping of Sustainable Finance Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58812/wsis.v4i07.3017Keywords:
Green Taxonomy, Sustainable Finance, Green Finance, ESG, Climate Finance, Bibliometric AnalysisAbstract
The increasing urgency to address climate change and achieve sustainable development goals has accelerated the transformation of global financial systems toward more environmentally responsible practices. Green taxonomy has emerged as an important policy and financial instrument designed to classify sustainable economic activities, improve transparency, prevent greenwashing, and facilitate the allocation of capital toward environmentally beneficial projects. This study aims to examine the intellectual structure, research trends, and development patterns of green taxonomy research within the broader field of sustainable finance through a bibliometric analysis approach. Data were collected from the Scopus database using relevant keywords associated with green taxonomy, sustainable finance, and green finance. The retrieved publications were analyzed using bibliometric techniques, including publication trend analysis, citation analysis, keyword co-occurrence mapping, density visualization, thematic evolution analysis, and collaboration network analysis using VOSviewer. The findings indicate that green taxonomy research has experienced significant growth, particularly following the emergence of sustainability regulations and climate-oriented financial frameworks. The analysis identifies sustainable finance, sustainable development, green finance, green bonds, climate finance, and EU taxonomy as the dominant research themes shaping the field. Furthermore, recent studies have increasingly focused on greenwashing prevention, sustainability reporting, transition finance, and the integration of taxonomy frameworks into financial decision-making processes. The collaboration analysis reveals that European countries, particularly Germany and other EU members, play a central role in advancing research, while emerging economies are gradually expanding their contributions. This study contributes to the sustainable finance literature by providing a comprehensive overview of the evolution of green taxonomy research and identifying future research directions related to regulatory implementation, climate risk management, and sustainable investment transformation.
References
[1] G. Nyikos and Z. Kondor, “National Development Banks in Europe – A Contribution to Sustainable Finance,” Cent. Eur. Public Adm. Rev., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 135–165, 2022, doi: 10.17573/cepar.2022.1.06.
[2] M. D. H. Nelemans, “ESG Targets for the Financial Sector and the Choice of Legal Instruments,” Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance, vol. Part F9256. Palgrave Macmillan, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, pp. 217–241, 2023. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36457-0_11.
[3] E. P. Ermakova, “Esg-banking in russia and the european union: Concept and problems of legal regulation,” Gos. i Pravo, vol. 2021, no. 7, pp. 161–174, 2021, doi: 10.31857/S102694520016188-7.
[4] M. Neumann, “A Stalling Green Bond Take-Off,” International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Political Science, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany, pp. 113–247, 2023. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-30502-3_5.
[5] T. N. Thị Thu, “Improving the Legal Framework for Green Finance… in Vietnam. A Comparison with Selected ASEAN Countries,” Prawo i Wiez, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 847–868, 2025, doi: 10.36128/PRIW.VI57.1372.
[6] N. Razali, A. H. A. Aziz, and R. Hassan, “Governments’ initiatives towards Islamic green finance,” Islamic Green Finance: A Research Companion. Taylor and Francis, International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance, Malaysia, pp. 135–143, 2024. doi: 10.4324/9781032672946-19.
[7] H. Cantell, “Developments in the Labelled Bond Concept: More than just Green,” AIIB Yearbook of International Law, vol. 4. Brill Nijhoff, Nordic Investment Bank, pp. 224–245, 2023. doi: 10.1163/9789004460010_011.
[8] N. Donthu, S. Kumar, D. Mukherjee, N. Pandey, and W. M. Lim, “How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines,” J. Bus. Res., vol. 133, pp. 285–296, 2021.
[9] F. Schütze and J. Stede, “The EU sustainable finance taxonomy and its contribution to climate neutrality,” J. Sustain. Financ. Invest., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 128–160, 2024, doi: 10.1080/20430795.2021.2006129.
[10] N. Van Eck and L. Waltman, “Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping,” Scientometrics, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 523–538, 2010.
[11] J. W. Lee, “Green finance and sustainable development goals: The case of China,” J. Asian Financ. Econ. Bus., vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 577–586, 2020, doi: 10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no7.577.
[12] S. Steuer and T. H. Tröger, “The Role of Disclosure in Green Finance,” J. Financ. Regul., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 1–50, 2022, doi: 10.1093/jfr/fjac001.
[13] P. Velte, “Sustainable board governance and environmental performance: European evidence,” Bus. Strateg. Environ., vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 3397–3421, 2024, doi: 10.1002/bse.3654.
[14] T. Gibon, I.-Ş. Popescu, C. Hitaj, C. Petucco, and E. Benetto, “Shades of green: Life cycle assessment of renewable energy projects financed through green bonds,” Environ. Res. Lett., vol. 15, no. 10, 2020, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/abaa0c.
[15] D. A. Zetzsche and L. Anker-Sørensen, “Regulating Sustainable Finance in the Dark,” Eur. Bus. Organ. Law Rev., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 47–85, 2022, doi: 10.1007/s40804-021-00237-9.
[16] P. D’Orazio, “Towards a post-pandemic policy framework to manage climate-related financial risks and resilience,” Clim. Policy, vol. 21, no. 10, pp. 1368–1382, 2021, doi: 10.1080/14693062.2021.1975623.
[17] C.-A. Papari, H. Toxopeus, F. Polzin, H. Bulkeley, and E. V Menguzzo, “Can the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities help upscale investments into urban nature-based solutions?,” Environ. Sci. Policy, vol. 151, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103598.
[18] R. Inderst and M. M. Opp, “Sustainable finance versus environmental policy: Does greenwashing justify a taxonomy for sustainable investments?,” J. financ. econ., vol. 163, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2024.103954.
[19] L. Becchetti, M. Cordella, and P. Morone, “Measuring investments progress in ecological transition: The Green Investment Financial Tool (GIFT) approach,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 357, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131915.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Loso Judijanto

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.








