A Review of the Global Climate Finance Literature

Abstract

This study conducts a bibliometric analysis and literature review of studies on climate finance. Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015, the academic community has paid closer attention to this emerging topic, as witnessed by a sharp increase in the number of publications. Our review lists this field’s most influential publications, authors, and journals, based on citations. The bibliometric analysis highlights the multidisciplinary nature of climate finance research, which spans environmental science, energy, economics, and finance. The citation analysis also reveals that, despite the exponential growth in publications related to climate finance, leading journals in finance and economics have so far published only a small number of articles in this literature. In addition, the citation analysis identifies four main themes in the knowledge domain: the financing of renewable energy; the impacts of climate change risks on the financial sector; investor preferences for green investments and the impact on corporations; and the pricing and hedging of climate change risk in financial markets.