Environmental, social, and governance issues: Emerging markets and beyond: An introduction to the special issue

During the past two decades the focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues, along with the role of business in society, has garnered increased attention from academics, investors, politicians, and regulators around the globe. Inspired by the innovative research work being done, in December of 2017 the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Journal of Corporate Finance cosponsored a conference on ESG/CSR related issues. More than 130 papers were submitted for the conference. After a conference committee review, input from the conference discussants and audience, and the Journal's standard rigorous review process, 11 papers were ultimately accepted for the special issue. The papers span a variety of
issues related to aspects of ESG/CSR including green bonds, CSR disclosure, the disclosure of political spending, and organizational form, as well as papers that focus primarily on aspects of governance, including ownership structure, organizational form, and CEOs and boards. In this introduction we provide an overview of the papers and their contributions to the literature