Governance and Corporate Social Responsiblity: New Frontier of Sustainable Finance?

This article investigates the relationships between corporate governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the fore-front of sustainable finance. The underlying intuition is that governance factors are major determinants of CSR policies and extra-financial performance. More precisely, we identify three main factors that determine the strength of CSR engagement and sustainable finance: the structure of equity ownership (identity of shareholders), the composition and structure of board of directors, and the regulatory framework on corporate governance and CSR. We show how evolutions regarding corporate governance over the three previous decades have paved the way and shaped the rise of CSR and sustainable finance.