IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p10675-d1188273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Can Fintech Companies Get Involved in the Environment?

Author

Listed:
  • Arvind Ashta

    (Burgundy School of Business, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 21000 Dijon, France)

Abstract

Financial services providers have the funds to finance climate change, and new entrepreneurs would like to join this effort. They need ideas on what fintechs can do to make money yet be sustainable. The research purpose of this study is to explore what fintechs are doing in this field of climate change and what theoretical and policy implications can be gained. This exploratory study uses a multiple case study method, using secondary sources of information. The sample includes five big fintechs and twelve green fintechs. The study finds that large fintech firms are diverse in the extent of their reporting and the issues that they are tackling, but they all report on their Scope 1 and Scope 2 impacts, and most report on Scope 3. Smaller dedicated green fintechs in the sample are grouped into those that offer to crowdfund green projects, those that track the impact of green projects or other firms or individuals, payment firms that invest directly into green projects, and those that provide a platform for peer-to-peer trading of renewable energy. The exploration is relevant to theories and concepts, including product differentiation and enhancement, disruptive innovation, collaborative ecosystems, and environmental and social impacts. Using lateral thinking, microfinance, and work-sharing research can stimulate reflection on developing more inclusive and advanced green fintech offerings. A few directions for future research in this field have been provided for those interested in impact measurement, strategic management, business models, risk management, or innovation theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Arvind Ashta, 2023. "How Can Fintech Companies Get Involved in the Environment?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10675-:d:1188273
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10675/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10675/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Mahfoudh Hussein Mgammal & Mushari Hamdan Alosaimi & Talal Fawzi Alruwaili & Sultan Al-Bogami, 2022. "Fintech, Board of Directors and Corporate Performance in Saudi Arabia Financial Sector: Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-23, August.
    2. Mr. Tanai Khiaonarong & David Humphrey, 2022. "Instant Payments: Regulatory Innovation and Payment Substitution Across Countries," IMF Working Papers 2022/228, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Manaf Al-Okaily & Abdul Rahman Al Natour & Farah Shishan & Ahmed Al-Dmour & Rasha Alghazzawi & Malek Alsharairi, 2021. "Sustainable FinTech Innovation Orientation: A Moderated Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Vinit Parida & David Sjödin & Wiebke Reim, 2019. "Reviewing Literature on Digitalization, Business Model Innovation, and Sustainable Industry: Past Achievements and Future Promises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Mahtab Kouhizadeh & Joseph Sarkis, 2018. "Blockchain Practices, Potentials, and Perspectives in Greening Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Marion Allet, 2014. "Why Do Microfinance Institutions Go Green? An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 405-424, July.
    7. Zhou, Guangyou & Zhu, Jieyu & Luo, Sumei, 2022. "The impact of fintech innovation on green growth in China: Mediating effect of green finance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Na Song & Isaac Appiah-Otoo, 2022. "The Impact of Fintech on Economic Growth: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Xiang Deng & Zhi Huang & Xiang Cheng, 2019. "FinTech and Sustainable Development: Evidence from China Based on P2P Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-19, November.
    10. Kohtamäki, Marko & Parida, Vinit & Oghazi, Pejvak & Gebauer, Heiko & Baines, Tim, 2019. "Digital servitization business models in ecosystems: A theory of the firm," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 380-392.
    11. Yuzhen Ma & Xinyang Wei & Gaoyun Yan & Xiaoyu He, 2023. "The Impact of Fintech Development on Air Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Tatiana Zalan & Elissar Toufaily, 2017. "The Promise of Fintech in Emerging Markets: Not as Disruptive," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.
    13. Javier Sada Bittini & Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual & Roberto Moro-Visconti, 2022. "Business Models and Sustainability Plans in the FinTech, InsurTech, and PropTech Industry: Evidence from Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, September.
    14. Blakstad, Sofie & Amars, Latif, 2020. "FinTech at the frontier: Technology developments supporting financial inclusion in Niger," Journal of Digital Banking, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 4(4), pages 318-331, March.
    15. Hongyu Li & Zhiqiang Lu & Qili Yin, 2023. "The Development of Fintech and SME Innovation: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-14, January.
    16. Hyun-Sun Ryu & Kwang Sun Ko, 2020. "Sustainable Development of Fintech: Focused on Uncertainty and Perceived Quality Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Thomas Puschmann & Christian Hugo Hoffmann & Valentyn Khmarskyi, 2020. "How Green FinTech Can Alleviate the Impact of Climate Change—The Case of Switzerland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-30, December.
    18. Orkun Bayram & Isilay Talay & Mete Feridun, 2022. "Can Fintech Promote Sustainable Finance? Policy Lessons from the Case of Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    19. Phemelo Tamasiga & Helen Onyeaka & El houssin Ouassou, 2022. "Unlocking the Green Economy in African Countries: An Integrated Framework of FinTech as an Enabler of the Transition to Sustainability," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-28, November.
    20. Cristina Chueca Vergara & Luis Ferruz Agudo, 2021. "Fintech and Sustainability: Do They Affect Each Other?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-19, June.
    21. Guillaume Biot-Paquerot & Djamchid Assadi & Arvind Ashta, 2021. "La création de valeur des fintechs dans l’offre de services bancaires et financiers : entre deshumanisation et réhumanisation," Innovations, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 209-235.
    22. Kristin Hommel & Peter M. Bican, 2020. "Digital Entrepreneurship in Finance: Fintechs and Funding Decision Criteria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.
    23. Roberto Moro-Visconti & Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual, 2020. "Sustainability in FinTechs: An Explanation through Business Model Scalability and Market Valuation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-24, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Jiachen & Li, Hao & Shang, Xianfa & Pu, Yang & Zhang, Mengtian & Pan, Xingchen, 2024. "Exploring the impact of fintech, human capital, mineral policy, and institutional quality on poverty traps: Evidence from resource-dependent economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Nilashi, Mehrbakhsh & Ali Abumalloh, Rabab & Keng-Boon, Ooi & Wei-Han Tan, Garry & Cham, Tat-Huei & Cheng-Xi Aw, Eugene, 2024. "Unlocking sustainable resource management: A comprehensive SWOT and thematic analysis of FinTech with a focus on mineral management," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Zhang, Hui & Fahlevi, Mochammad & Aljuaid, Mohammed & Beşer, Nazife Özge & Cabas, Meral & lominchar, Jose, 2024. "A machine learning and quantile analysis of FINTECH and resource efficiency in achieving sustainable development in OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Wang, Yulin & Han, Mo & Liu, Kai, 2024. "Towards sustainable path: Measuring the effectiveness of natural resource utilization, renewable energy resources, fintech, environmental investments, and research & development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    5. Dong, Hao & Zheng, Yingrong & Tang, Yuhong, 2024. "Impact of FinTech on the industrial structural transformation: Evidence from China's resource-based cities," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Nashat Ali Almasria & Zaidoon Alhatabat & Diala Ershaid & Abdulhadi Ibrahim & Sajeel Ahmed, 2024. "The Mediating Impact of Organizational Innovation on the Relationship Between Fintech Innovations and Sustainability Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Javier Sada Bittini & Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual & Roberto Moro-Visconti, 2022. "Business Models and Sustainability Plans in the FinTech, InsurTech, and PropTech Industry: Evidence from Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Cristina Chueca Vergara & Luis Ferruz Agudo, 2021. "Fintech and Sustainability: Do They Affect Each Other?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Manaf Al-Okaily & Abdul Rahman Al Natour & Farah Shishan & Ahmed Al-Dmour & Rasha Alghazzawi & Malek Alsharairi, 2021. "Sustainable FinTech Innovation Orientation: A Moderated Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Nilashi, Mehrbakhsh & Ali Abumalloh, Rabab & Keng-Boon, Ooi & Wei-Han Tan, Garry & Cham, Tat-Huei & Cheng-Xi Aw, Eugene, 2024. "Unlocking sustainable resource management: A comprehensive SWOT and thematic analysis of FinTech with a focus on mineral management," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual, 2023. "Insurtech, Proptech, and Fintech Environment: Sustainability, Global Trends and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-3, June.
    6. Luiz Antonio Joia & Joaquim Pedro Vasconcelos Cordeiro, 2021. "Unlocking the Potential of Fintechs for Financial Inclusion: A Delphi-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Leng, Chunyu & Wei, Siao-Yun & Al-Abyadh, Mohammed Hasan Ali & Halteh, Khaled & Bauetdinov, Majit & Le, Luan Thanh & Alzoubi, Haitham M., 2024. "An empirical assessment of the effect of natural resources and financial technologies on sustainable development in resource abundant developing countries: Evidence using MMQR estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    8. Guo, Yulian & Wang, Feilan & Li, Ping, 2024. "The interplay of Fintech, natural resources, globalization, and environmental sustainability in China: A BARDL investigation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Nejla Ould Daoud Ellili, 2023. "Is there any association between FinTech and sustainability? Evidence from bibliometric review and content analysis," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(4), pages 748-762, December.
    10. Orkun Bayram & Isilay Talay & Mete Feridun, 2022. "Can Fintech Promote Sustainable Finance? Policy Lessons from the Case of Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-25, September.
    11. Galeone, Graziana & Ranaldo, Simona & Fusco, Antonio, 2024. "ESG and FinTech: Are they connected?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. Tiwari, Sunil, 2024. "Impact of Fintech on natural resources management: How financial impacts shape the association?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Shu, Xiaoyang & Usman, Muhammad & Ahmad, Paiman & Irfan, Muhammad, 2024. "Analyzing the asymmetric FinTech services under natural resources, and renewable energy in the future environmental performance: New insights from STIRPAT model framework," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    14. Awais, Minahil & Afzal, Ayesha & Firdousi, Saba & Hasnaoui, Amir, 2023. "Is fintech the new path to sustainable resource utilisation and economic development?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Wang, Yulin & Han, Mo & Liu, Kai, 2024. "Towards sustainable path: Measuring the effectiveness of natural resource utilization, renewable energy resources, fintech, environmental investments, and research & development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    16. Chen, Liang & Ma, Rui & Li, Jing & Zhou, Fengjiao, 2024. "Revolutionizing sustainable economic growth in China: Harnessing natural resources, green development, and fintech for a greener future," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    17. Zhou, Zheng & Chau, Ka Yin & Sibghatullah, Amena & Moslehpour, Massoud & Tien, Nguyen Hoang & Nizomjon Shukurullaevich, Khajimuratov, 2024. "The role of green finance, environmental benefits, fintech development, and natural resource management in advancing sustainability," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    18. Goodell, John W. & Corbet, Shaen & Yadav, Miklesh Prasad & Kumar, Satish & Sharma, Sudhi & Malik, Kunjana, 2022. "Time and frequency connectedness of green equity indices: Uncovering a socially important link to Bitcoin," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Li, Yi & Liu, Christy Ying Ni & Lao, Ut & Dang, Jiangtong, 2024. "Navigating the path to environmental sustainability: Exploring the role of fintech, natural resources and green energy in Belt and Road countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Zhang, Hui & Fahlevi, Mochammad & Aljuaid, Mohammed & Beşer, Nazife Özge & Cabas, Meral & lominchar, Jose, 2024. "A machine learning and quantile analysis of FINTECH and resource efficiency in achieving sustainable development in OECD countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10675-:d:1188273. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.