Handbook of Sustainable Finance: A multidisciplinary approach

The last economic crises are enormous challenges that come on top of the growing uncertainty and lead human beings to resort to all the resources at their disposal to face them. The dispute for world hegemony, information and data, armed conflicts, demographic growth, pressure on natural resources, population aging, growing debt, high unemployment rates, inequality, and migratory movements require the cooperation of public and private agents around the world to find solutions to these problems. Through education and research, knowledge and technology used ethically are the primary tools that will allow us to overcome these challenges and think of a kinder future both for us and, especially, for the next generations. In this sense, the Pontifical University of Salamanca and MAPFRE created the Sustainable Finance Chair in January 2020. The Chair is an open forum for reflection, research, training, and opinion on issues related to Sustainable Finance, especially in its social dimension. The Chair is inspired by the authors of the School of Salamanca and the Social Doctrine of the Church. It aims to be a meeting place for students, academics, researchers, professionals, managers, entrepreneurs, and any citizen who can contribute with their knowledge to the Common Good and transform the economic paradigm towards a social and global Economy at the service of people. This book aims to shed light on the role of sustainable finance as an instrument of social cohesion. To this end, researchers, academics, and business professionals contribute their theoretical and applied knowledge to create this handbook with a multidisciplinary approach: Economics, Business, Law, Marketing, Advertising, Canon Law, Philosophy, etc. The manual is divided into two parts for ease of use. On the one hand, the first part highlights the importance of sustainable finance in the company’s strategy. It highlights the economic aspects of finance, the different investment strategies developed by investors, and the implementation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. On the other hand, the second part analyzes the legal, ethical and reli-8 Handbook of Sustainable Finance gious aspects of Sustainable Finance and serves as a reference for economic agents’ decision-making.