CfP Deadline:
August 30, 2026
Journal:
Journal of International Money and Finance
Guest Editors:
Sadok El Ghoul (University of Texas at El Paso)
Omrane Guedhami (University of South Carolina)
K.G. Koedijk (Utrecht University, CEPR Fellow)
Yukihiro Yasuda (Hitotsubashi University)
Special issue information:
The global financial system is a dynamic network involving a wide range of actors: regulators, financial institutions (banks and non-banks), corporations, and stakeholders (investors, employees, depositors, NGOs, and the public). Regulators set the rules. Depositors and investors provide capital. Financial institutions intermediate capital and manage regulatory and societal pressures. Corporations obtain financing and make investment and other strategic decisions. And stakeholders exert reputational and market discipline. The varied interactions increasingly shape corporate behavior and financial stability. This is especially true during this era of sustainability, where Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations and climate transition plans have become central to the functioning of the financial system.
Most existing research on ESG and climate is focused on non-financial corporations. It explores the drivers and consequences of their ESG information disclosures and practices, how they respond to regulatory mandates, and what adjustments they make to stakeholder pressures. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to banks. This omission is significant, given banks’ dual roles as: 1) independent firms, with their own ESG practices and climate exposures, and 2) financial intermediaries that can broadly affect corporate behavior, including ESG practices, through lending and monitoring.
This call for papers aims to fill this gap in the literature by exploring ESG and climate issues, with particular emphasis on the roles of banks. We specifically welcome submissions that provide new insights into banks’ interactions with regulators and stakeholders, as well as on how banks influence, and are influenced by, corporations and markets. In pursuing these topics, we encourage research that employs novel data, explores new settings, and adopts an international perspective. A primary goal is to help deepen our understanding of differences across institutional and geographic settings. By focusing on banks, this call for papers also seeks to advance our understanding of how financial intermediation affects sustainability outcomes, and provide insights into policy, practices, and future research.
Selected Paper Themes
Banks’ ESG and Climate Responsibilities
- Explore how investors, depositors, NGOs, and the media influence banks’ ESG practices.
Banks as ESG and Climate Gatekeepers for Corporations
- Evaluate the effects of ESG and climate risk on bank lending decisions, and explore how relationship lending impacts these decisions.
- Assess the effectiveness of sustainability-linked loans and green finance instruments.
- Examine banks’ roles in the financing of adaptation and resilience strategies for corporations in high-climate risk regions.
- Investigate potential unintended consequences of bank ESG commitments on small firms or emerging markets.
- Gauge the extent to which multinational banks influence the transmission of ESG and climate standards across borders.
- Examine the financing of low-carbon transitions and managing exposure to “brown” sectors.
- Explore how AI adoption impacts banks’ roles as ESG and climate gatekeepers (e.g., green lending, ESG and climate risk assessment, reduction in greenwashing).
Banks, Climate Risk, and Financial Stability
- Examine how banks measure and manage exposure to physical and transition risks.
- Explore how banks’ exposure to climate-related disasters (hurricanes, floods, wildfires) affects credit risk modeling, loan pricing, and capital allocation.
- Investigate the relationship between banks’ disaster risk management practices and financial stability.
- Evaluate how regulatory stress tests can incorporate disaster scenarios.
- Gauge the implications for the systemic stability and resilience of the financial system.
Regulations, ESG, and Climate Risk
- Examine the impact of ESG and climate disclosure mandates on bank lending.
- Explore the mechanisms through which disclosure regulations are transmitted between banks and borrowing firms.
- Investigate institutional differences in disclosure standards and climate enforcement.
- Assess the influence of frameworks such as the EU Green Taxonomy.
Central Banks, Banking Regulations, and Green Finance
- Examine how monetary policy affects green finance.
- Evaluate whether quantitative easing programs that favor green bonds are effective.
- Explore how interest rate adjustments influence investments in renewable energy versus fossil fuels, and the transition to a zero-carbon economy.
- Assess how zero-interest rate periods affect green finance.
- Evaluate the case for dual interest rates, e.g., low interest rates for the green economy, and higher interest rates for everything else.
- Gauge the effectiveness of various supervisory approaches, and how they impact bank ESG and lending to high-carbon sectors.
- Explore whether central bank mandates should be changed to include environmental stability, in addition to price, employment, and financial stability.
- Assess the effectiveness of various regulatory approaches that seek to limit competition in the banking industry, and how they influence bank ESG and lending to high-carbon sectors.
- Investigate whether and how bank competition affects the environment.
Conference:
Interested authors will have an opportunity to present their work at the Darla Moore School of Business—Hitotsubashi University Ninth International Conference on Corporate Finance, scheduled for July 30-31, 2026, at Hitotsubashi University (2-1, Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, Japan). Acceptance to this conference does not guarantee publication in the Journal of International Money and Finance. Authors submitting to this Journal of International Money and Finance call for papers are NOT required to participate in the conference. The two submission processes are fully independent of each other.
Submission:
Submission Guidelines
Manuscripts must follow the submission guidelines and formatting requirementsof the Journal of International Money and Finance. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure academic quality and relevance. Final decisions are subject to approval by the Managing Editor.
Important Dates
Conference Submission Deadline: February 15, 2026
Conference Decision Notification: March 31, 2026
Conference Dates: July 30-31, 2026, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, JapanSubmissions to the Journal of International Money and Finance Special Issue will open on January 1, 2026, and close on August 30, 2026.